So true. I worked daily with them when asigned to the Joint Tactical Air to Air Missile Office and they have a definite pecking order tied to Type/Model/Series and then based on rank and experience within that. A colonel I worked with was in positional authority over many of them but since he was a WSO to pilot transition and had only a star over his pilot wings and not a star and wreath, it was like he had a skeleton in his closet or something. Think there will ever be anyone else than a fighter pilot as Chief of Staff of USAF not to mention in any high ranking position especially wearing wings of a navigator? The fact that they treat their WSOs or "Navigators" like second class citizens should be no surprise. Only Navy and Marine Corps practices equal opportunity in that regard.
Decades ago the SAC bomber guys ruled the roost, then the fighter guys took over (hence the tenacious clinging to the argument that Raptor is top priority to expense of all else. Their pyramid of clout values air superiority above all other missions even when we don't see a threat in OIF or OEF. The light gray Eagle drivers put down the "Mud Hens" (dark gray two seat Strike Eagles) believing their mission is most pure of them all.
The Air-to-Air world and the Air-to-Ground world are completely different in the AF (and the ANG; after all, the Guard has a lot of airplanes and a lot of squadrons). As has been stated before, the Light grays look down on the Dark grays, Vipers, and the Warthog drivers; But who are you going to take more seriously when they have 250 combat hours?
I can't understand the Viper community and their "I fly xx block; I'm better than your xx block." Pretty much all the Viper guys are fulfilling the same mission in combat.
I agree with the Raptor comment. Case in point, they proved it could drop a few JDAMs, so now it has a2g ability. Yet the fleet of A-10s is just getting around to the first major overhaul and they won't fund the re-engine program that has been around since the early 80s. They have tried to kill that airplane more than twice now, and each time it keeps coming back.