DR,
Just as 747 Captains are paid the big bucks for (and live for) fighting an ILS to minimas during a typhoon in Singapore ...not for sitting back for 14 dozzy hours across the Pacific .... so do Defence pilots get paid for(and live for) the occassions when they put their arses on the line dodging shoulder launched rockets in the sand pit.... not swanning around Melbourne intercepting errant C172s.
But they can't be doing the adrenalin stuff all the time.