At last some sane and sage counsel! I had almost given up my antipodean viewing because of the style and type of comment made under guise of banter, which in fact was arrogance and ignorance in equal parts.Some of the more serious whinging is also misplaced. If the commenters really feel that way, then there are ways and means of making their feelings known.
If some are the comments were to be taken as an indication, then an assumption could be made that standards of officer and aircrew selection had seriously dropped.While I don't believe that, if wit and repartee are benchmarks, then they certainly have!