Thread drift - No, you were passing presumptuous judgement on things you have no experience of. You weren't "shot down", you were corrected by the people with first hand experience
There's no "reluctance to acknowledge that they may be a better way of doing things" (I am well aware a fluffy hotel is much nicer than a grotty portacabin or that 20hrs rest beats 11) but there is an
acceptance that military operations require an element of privation and "making-do" to get the job done. Quoting union rules at people serves no purpose but nor does just accepting every stupid order thrown at you. That's why flying military aircraft isn't just black and white.
I have no first hand experience of flying an A330 but I can safely bet that 90% of the folk that do it aren't idiots and that there's no reason why those that are suitably motivated couldn't perform discrete military tasks such as AAR given suitable training.
who probably average 3 x the hours per year
Hours are utterly meaningless. If you do 10 x 15 hour sectors is that 150hrs "worth" more than 100 x 1hr sectors? On paper 150 beats 100 but the bloke with 100 landings vs 15 wins hands down in reality. Don't confuse hours with experience.