Perhaps pilots get their attitude from the fact that, generally, the best pilots on the various courses get the best postings. I'll let you decide what constitutes 'the best postings'.
I agree with BEagle about the Lightning/Vulcan No 2 battledress - we non-entitled lusted after them. Wasn't there a 'high altitude wear' angle to them?
By the way, at least one recent CAS was an ex-hairy, circa the 80s, but he kept the fact off his CV.