There was [and maybe still is] a nod towards half-in/ half out specialists with long hair and scruffy shoes. Alan Turings they were not, but they spent a lifetime WITH the RAF not IN the RAF, and resisted all attempts to move them from their posts to Civil Aviation, Public Services or HQ.
Mess membership, mess fees, no mess vote, no worries. Called senior officers "Sir" and stood up. Rarely late, rarely off sick, often the only people on the station fully awake at Zero Dark Hundred.
The concept is not new, and it does work, but both sides need to show respect.