Without taking sides on Civilian and Military Training....there are some interesting observations that I have seen over many years.
A pilot by default is a product of his/her training and open mindness.
The more thorough the training is, together with the post licence support, then that pilot will have his/her nose ahead of the folk that are left to their own.
The Military is good at producing bunches of similarly type of folk that, think, talk, drink and *&^%$ together, hence you could say they are from the same mould. Which of course is the aim of the selection [or deselection] programs.
What the Military does not do well is to broaden the base and flexibility of pilots [particularly helicopter pilots] and prepare them for civil markets where they will most likely end up. [But then that is not their role]
The civil schools don't have the luxury of having a tailored student to commence with! These schools are there to initially make the owners richer, then to do their best to produce a licenced pilot at the cheapest rate!
Even if the student will not make the grade in the end, then they can still fly!...
From a straight poling ability, the hand eye co-ordination aspects, anyone with 500 - 1000 hours [less in combat] it’s difficult to differentiate their training background.
Their mouths will normally do that over the first beer after work.
I am not talking about flying around tourist’s camp here; I mean desert, mineral, exploration type work in a small turbine, stuff that really makes you work.
I have known some extremely capable pilots from both backgrounds.
Personal attitude, flexibility, openness, honesty are aspects that I look at when giving pilots a start rather than where they came from. [But that is also important].
