Don't let's forget that there are instructors and there are instructors...
There's one bunch that can fly on the numbers, present a stall package so polished it hurts your eyes to watch and who think that nought in military aviation is more important than the upwind turn. These people are a necessary evil and are essentially just the aviation equivalent of the broody hen. Cock all use but for the first bit of training (which ends when you fly a warplane)....and they even have ranks of uselessness, from B2 all the way to A1 - which only shows how long they've been off the frontline. (Some of the blighters haven't even flown a front line jet!)
I heard a rumour that F-35 didn't need any of these chaps. Allah be praised.
On the other hand there are the Air Warfare Instructors, Qualified Weapon Instructors, WTIs, Weapon School grads and other 'patch wearers'. They are experts.
Anyway...back to the thread.