When I went through T-6's 16 some odd years ago, my class had 5 dudes with CPL/IFR/CFII ratings with 400-1,000 hours of flight time (to include myself) and we were ranked 1 thru 5 in the class. Coincidence? Definitely not, BUT, and this is a big BUT, we were all willing to forget a lot of what life was like in an a GA aircraft flying under FAR's and use our seasoned basic airmanship to our advantage (and not have a chip on the shoulder acting like we knew it all). Being able to free up brain cells from having to worry about flying straight and level allowed us to learn new things more quickly. By the time some of the less experienced dudes started to "get it", it was too late. I felt I had a huge advantage when it came to the instrument phase, because most of that phase contained the same principles as instrument flying in a 172, but things just happened much faster. The playing field starts to even out once you get to the T-1 or T-38. Overall, dudes/dudets with more flight time, in theory, should be more confident in any new airplane. I used my CFII experience to my advantage outside the airplane and took one of my bros in the class having a hard time during instruments to the cockpit trainer a few times to help him with basic course intercepts, holding patterns and approaches. My advice to anyone with any extensive flying experience going to UPT is 1. Never pass up the opportunity to keep your mouth shut even if you know something from your prior experience (don't act like a know-it-all). 2. Don't be an individual with your experience and help your bro's. 3. Don't get cocky, because the margin of getting into a humbling experience is probably a bit tighter than you are use to.