Good post.
As far as the iron ownership goes, everyone understands who owns the iron, the US taxpayer and big Air Force. It's hard not to take a little ownership of iron when you've been flying, fixing, and guarding the same tail numbers for 20 plus years, in some cases.
Also, bitching is a sport in a lot of ARC units, I could see how that would look bad when viewed from the outside. Most will shut up and color when given a mission.