Correct Easy - a couple of times one service or another was doing well and offered up something to help. The Treasury and/or the other services took what was offered and then still fought like crazy for their own agendas - so any idea of mutual assistance went by the board.
One thing that is interesting is how Mrs T appointed people she thought could be trouble or a contender to the MOD - it's a busy department, there's a lot of back bench flak and things often go wrong - Pym, Nott & above all Heseltine where trapped like this. Also each Minister had very different interests- Heseltine wasn't interested at all in strategy - only in platforms and industrial policy, Nott was much more a strategic thinker and Younger a "don't rock the boat" administrator.
No wonder it s a mess.