Exactly right Vortexringshark - having a macho FIGJAM story to wow the boys in the bar just isn't worth it.
Surely you mean only
some FIGJAM stories aren't worth it? Because clearly not
all FIGJAM stories are bad. Like your Falklands "minefield runs"?
Military, public safety, and para-public operations often involve a very high level of complexity. More training and better equipment in this area seems to bring a level of "FIGJAM immunity" to that mission space. But the reality is, military, public, or private, the lords and masters weight the consequences and they decide on the price the organization, and the individuals that work for it, are willing/going to pay if it goes in the crapper. Don't want to wind up in the stockade? Fly the mission. Don't want to lose your job? Fly the mission.
But, but...it's probably really simpler than that. Everyone loves a challenge, helicopter pilots probably more than most. Thus there are no end of people who are willing and, more importantly, very happy, to take these risks. As long as these people exist organizations will take advantage of them, and if these people are flying for themselves, the risk is often eagerly self-assigned.