Also, RAF transport flights generally do not demand the unruffled experience expected by the fare-paying, travelling public - on which commercial pilots' jobs depend.
Chris Scott (no relation): really? Do we just wang it around any old how without a thought to our self-loading freight? Many of the civil flights I've flown on recently as a pax have been 'ruffled' to the point of concern particularly the landings, of my last 6 flights only one has been to a standard that I would assess as 'good' on one of the checks I conduct (a BA Capt's by the way). In theatre on ops the pax may have to accept a slightly lower standard of comfort but otherwise we most certainly do pride ourselves on smooth flying even if we don't obsess about 'light chop' & 'any ride reports?' like our civil brethren but then my ac shakes & rattles roughly equivalent to light chop anyway so we tend not to notice it too much. Smooth & 'unruffled' operating is most certainly not the unique preserve of civil airlines.