HC - I think very few mil pilots consider themselves to be steely-eyed gods of the sky but I can understand the frustration they feel moving to civil flying where there is limited training (compare a conversion to type between mil and civ) compared to that they enjoyed in the mil.
The mantra in the mil is to train hard and fight easy so you don't do the enemy's job for him - this clearly doesn't translate to civilian flying where the bottom line governs everything but when you have enjoyed the freedoms of mil flying, civilian stuff seems tame, over-regulated and under-resourced by comparison.
As for growing out of it - I think it is more like banging your head against a brick wall - it's nice when you stop as there is no way the system will change whilst beancounters control everything.