Chris,
212man and finalchecksplease have been in this game for a very long time and know a lot. I've known them for 27 and 20 years respectively.
Of all the items people put on their CVs, be it as pilots, engineers, VPs, Managers or whatever, the one thing that can't be learnt in a classroom or bought is experience.
For what it's worth my advice would be to simply accept that they know what they're talking about. Just my two penneth.
Cheers,
NEO