I’m retired USAF (officer). I’ve also been an ALO and did a tour in Afghanistan supporting Army operations at the BDE level. I did an exchange tour with the Navy. My daughter was in the Marines. My son was in the Army.
Never had any interest in inter-service rivalry either.
As for pilots in the USAF...many reasons why they leave ASAP. Low flight hours is usually high on the list. So is a strong distrust in the military leadership.
My son got out of the Army. Said he was tired of officers with the brains of door knobs, making and following rules generated by PowerPoint wonders. That is why a lot of pilots leave, too.
My sister lives about a mile from the runway at Westover AFB.It's a matter of routine for C-5s to fly almost directly over her house while taking off (I've never seen them on a landing approach).Those things are *big*...and *loud*.
A couple of years ago the Blue Angels did a show at Westover and I just happened to visit her a couple of days before the show was to begin (I attended the show as well).While I was visiting they were doing what I assume were practice maneuvers in the area and they were flying full speed (or so it seemed) right over her house.All I can say is *damn*!
Having seen that kind of stuff I'm not gonna badmouth guys who can do it.
My son is an ALO - he wanted to be a pilot, but he has some hearing loss at certain frequencies, so he chose another non-desk job. It sounds like they are cutting back or phasing out the pilot-ALO track and focusing on career ALOs.