I'm also on the fence. I think both Dodger and Chenier have good points. On one hand, I like that a realm has to 'invest' in maintaining infrastructure with its allies and actively seek cooperation, providing a soft strategic advantage to alliances able to cooperate more efficiently. On the other hand, I like the idea of providing more alliance-wide military contacts akin to an alliance-wide battlegroup, taking the pressure off any one person to respond with orders promptly.
