Salute!
Thanks for nice words, Sarn.
Although USAF went thru the politically correct phase once or twice, the selection for the high performance slots came back to evaluations by the training outfit and instructors as to whether the candidate was a "keeper".
In my A-7 days as an IP, we had one of the first "anybody can fly any jet" troops at The Beach. Flew into the ground one night at the range while on a radar pass. Saw another similar loss years later in the Viper, where the fellow was in the "nurture" category, but had some personal problems that may have been in the way. We ( USAF) got out of that PC mode but stretched things a bit to get some females into fighters and "combat" slots during the late 90's. I supported the females, but did not want any to be advanced without demonstrating everything expected in the performance of the criterion task ( ya can tell I was an IP and have an advanced degree in education, huh?).
One thing I wanted to get out is I saw several of the "naturals" stretch the envelope when they not have to. My best example was the USAF "top gun" that pressed a screwed up attack versus aborting and we have the HUD video of the impact -you don't see individual sage bushes until last two seconds. Also had a classmate in 'nam that pressed too many times until it caught him. There are times to press, but mostly the "hero" type situations. And even then one must not press on knowing it's a kamikaze outcome.
So I helped several "nurtured" folks check out in three jets. The "hands" needed to be fair, but the overall airmanship was the prime ingredient, IMHO. I also saw several "naturals" that should have been in Phantoms or 'vaarks to have "Jimminy Cricket" siting right there to help.
Gums sends...