Arrest the usual suspects!
I work for a British company, one that was started by an ex-Fleet Air Arm pilot, that had always preferred to hire ex-military people for reasons practical and sentimental, I guess. So I have come as close as possible to being immersed in talking the talk without having much of a clue how to walk the walk. I could give you the 15-minute presentation on flying a Shackleton from memory, having heard it every evening for two months at a time whilst under deep sedation. I even wear an RAF official wrist watch, albeit one that is made by Seiko! I drew the line at wearing the Irvine sheepskin jacket, though. It might look a bit dodgy when it's 35° in the shade.
We have two splits, ex-military/totally civvy and rotary-/fixed- wing. You can just imagine the wind-ups and slagging-offs that come out of this in the bar of a wet and windy evening.
Some of the biggest jerks I have flown with in my life have been people firmly mired in the 'When I....' groove. One fellow was laying it on very thick one night about his time at 60 feet and 500 knots in the mighty Buccaneer, so that I put on my best, corn-fed, stupid Yankee air to tell him that we had a lot in common. 'Yes!' I told him, 'I too used to fly my Cessna 150 at 60 knots and 500 feet during my brilliant career as a CFI.' You could see the gears grinding in his head as he tried to figure out whether I could possibly be taking the Michael there, or was I as stupid as he thought I was....
And, on the other hand, the best pilot and all-around good guy I have had the pleasure to work with was an ex-RAF fast jet pilot.
I don't think much of this generalising is much use, aside from seeing everyone wind each other up. Perhaps that was the main intention?
It is always nice to see 411A come out of his cave to hurl rocks at those who fail to measure up to his exacting standards. It makes me think of that little bird that comes flying out of the clock on the hour. Go get 'em, tiger!