Does talking like this make me sound arrogant? Cocky? Maybe. But I am still flying having been through situations that civvies just wont ever be exposed to. So again I say thanks to my instructors and a system that pushed and tested me to such high standards.
But this is what bugs me. I've flown with guys that are ex-military and make outstanding civilian pilots. Then, there are the real battlers. Including some of those with headline making, combat flying experience. They fall apart in LOFT exercises of relative intensity in a simulator; or a plagued by poor decision making on the line.
Maybe being a good military pilot doesn't guarantee success in a civilian environment.