 Paul Hellyer, the Liberal Defence Minister, had issued a white paper in 1964 proposing to unite the Army, the Air Force and the Navy into one service, arguing that the idea of separate services fighting on land, sea and the air were anachronistic in the modern age.Hellyer's plans to unify the military provoked much opposition; an essay by General Simonds called Hellyer's ideas nonsense.Simonds wrote an Air Force pilot alone in his aircraft decided whatever to fight or flee; a junior naval officer holding the equivalent rank as the air force pilot had the decision to fight decided by his captain for him; and a junior Army officer holding the equivalent rank as the naval and air force officers had to decide not only to fight or flee for himself, but to persuade the men under his command to fight as well.