caz,
That is not all you are "at a loss to" understand.....
In post 571 of this thread you point out that BHR is a sales executive living in Scotland. In post 574 you state that this means that his opinions should be given no credence, whereas you, with 11,000 odd days in the RAF, and 5 log books, should be listened to!!
I merely tried to point out how narrow minded your attitude is, and that everyones opinion deserved to be heard, at least until proven to the contrary!
For what it is worth, and I'm sure BHR can defend himself, consider the following:
There is no age on BHRs profile.
In one of his postings (which you have no doubt made no effort to check) he refers to previous service in the RN.
So, we have an ex-RN retiree of unknown age, length of service, retiring rank, experience, etc, making comments about SSBNs, vs an ex-RAF VIP pilot with 11,000 days and 5 log books, who is saying that the first persons comments have no credence. Why not? Why are you more of an expert on SSBNs and british nuclear defence policy than him?
Even if BHR were not ex-military, all that would mean is that he would lack personal experience to help form his opinion. He could be well read on the subject, have an exceptionally keen mind, an unusual approach that is worth considering, etc. Your attitude strikes me as narrow minded in the extreme.
In my day flying multi crew aircraft we always tried to ensure that the most junior member of the crew was confident enough to come up with an opinion/query/idea without feeling intimidated, or that his point of view wouldn't be listened to by the rest of the crew - this was to the benefit of all.
Were you the sort of captain that thought because of his experience/ability that he always knew best, and told the co-pilot that when you wanted his opinion you would give it to him? Thankfully such dinosaurs are largely a thing of the past.
As to why I inhabit this forum, that is really none of your business - but I am a still serving member of the RAF, and fulfill the criteria for lurking here... Nor do I feel the need to tell people how many days I have served, log books I have, hours I have flown, etc to help justify any of my comments!