Perhaps it is the loss of status and authority, maybe it is that you can no longer do the 'right thing', you can only do what is right for the balance sheet.
Crab, it may be 2008 but some things never change, the main one being the attitude of some, not all, just some RAF pilots.
Two examples.
One chief pilot, ex-crab told me I should show him more respect as he was a retired Sqn Ldr. Well stuff me sideways, if I'd known about his condition I'd have shown him a damn sight more of my backside.
The other guy was so anally retentive that, during our first flight together, he had worked out our fuel burn three times before we were 10 miles from Aberdeen. I asked to borrow his whizwheel and put in my door pocket, where it stayed for the rest of the trip.
In Bristows there were so many Sqn members from all three services it felt very much like a crewroom, the engineers were of the same blend. I repeat, your attitude may be tolerated, grudgingly, in your present environment. If you go into the real world and maintain it, then somebody is going to Rembrandt you.
