Ha ha, great story, geriaviator, and a classic bit of inter Service banter! I've told it before (apologies), but a Herc skipper friend of mind was having a stretch at the rear of the Flight Deck while over the Indian Ocean. Army JO pax climbs up from the cargo compt and joins him, as agreed with the Loadie. Polite conversation ensues, with pax JO giving brief job description. He then asks my chum about his job. "Well, I'm the aircraft captain". "I see, so where do you sit?". "Over there", indicating vacant LH seat. "But isn't that where the driver sits?". "Well, I am one of the drivers". "Good grief man, don't you have a competent NCO to do that for you?".
Sorry, we didn't do Purple back then, and anyway we get far worse on Aarse!