Wander00,
The question I would ask is, was you Boss wrong to assume that all of his CR pilots were trained in ALL of the basic facets of Military Aviation? I think not.
I to was caught out when leading a Night AAR Convex. I assumed that the 27 year old Graduate, Creamie with 1000 hrs was trained in basic night formation. It was only when we got behind the VC10 that it became evident that all was not well. After 30 minutes and never even getting to the waiting position we decided to RTB, much to the VC10 crews relief.
The debrief lasted quite a long time and we (the supervisors) were guilty in assuming that this pilot had received similar training to our selves (prior to mirror image).
By the time I was the age I had completed two Front Line tours and was an Instructor on an OCU!
The training system has been eroded over many years. Driven by financiers and not defended by Staff Officers looking after their own careers. When did the RAF last conduct a detailed assessment of the REAL capability expected of our Combat Ready pilots and then defined the best and correct (not financially driven) training required. Then the RAF would be able to define a true training requirement which could be conducted by itself, not outsourced to the lowest bidder. Countries such as Sweden have done this to good effect!