The debate about allocation of resources for current COIN ops and future ops involving other threats is very important. However what worries me is that those in all political parties who have always been hostile to the armed forces want us to see this as an either/or question. For instance they want us to think that either we provide the Army with more helicopter lift or we have a deep water navy. That's a false choice. We should reject the view that the Chiefs of Staff should fight over who gets the biggest proportion of the defence budget. Instead the Chiefs should unite about the need for a bigger defence budget and not make any comments about individual programmes until that is agreed by their political masters. Unity is strength.