Sam 'n soddim,
I guess we're singing from a similar hymn sheet. My own experience working with a large civilian organisation that has an inextricable link with the military was that ability had to be demonstrated in order to gain credibility. Whilst there was a certain respect for those IN uniform, there was invariably a level suspicion or resentment over the majority of new and generally eager employees that had elected to join the business later in life, armed with an Armed Services pension. There were, of course, exceptions at both ends of the scale: some recognisably talented Service personnel were rightly head-hunted, others of the pompous and dim variety made life more awkward for the majority.
And Sam is right - civilian rats are both more abundant and of an order far, far higher than anything I ever came across in the RAF. More usually, they were found in the more senior positions.