con-pilot,
I have just finished reading your story - a really excellent read. You have a way with words and ought to try writing professionally.
I have never been inside a thunderstorm (thank God) but close enough between them when negotiating lines of big ones in Africa, India, SE Asia and the USA to know that what you write is the stark truth!
I remember, when I started flying, being crewed with some ex-wartime captains not unlike your 'Colonel'. It was impossible to tell them anything and they looked at you as though you were still in kindergarten!
If you have any more similar stories to tell please write them here. What about the other two?