'Cept the "real world" isn't about 1000' bubbles and 10,000 decks. God help us if we go up against a "capable" airborne adversary ... one who makes up his own rules. And sometimes takes snap shots ... 
I was fortunate enough to
experience and to
survive the "wild-west" days of Fightertown USA when there weren't really any rules (or if there were . . . ? )
On my FAM-3 on departure, going feet wet over Torrey Pines and beginning our climb, an F-8 jumped us. Asking my instructor if I should turn on him, he hesitated, then said we better not . . . since I had only 4 hours in type and we were only about 5k AGL. In fact, it was not uncommon then for guys to hang around, just offshore and jump any flights coming out on the Seawolf departure.
Likewise, the Date Farm (a square green patch in the midst of desert brown) just west of the Salton Sea was usually good for some impromptu ACM – always somebody there looking for a fight. With any extra gas on RTB, we always went over there to see who we could see.
In fact, on every training flight our heads were always on a swivel – you never knew when you had to interrupt your training and do a few turns with somebody who jumped you.
Then the Israelis taught us how to shoot guns. They laughed at our 1,000ft firing ranges and taught us that if you fill the windscreen with the enemy, it's hard to miss.
On the positive side, all this was excellent training for SEA, where except for ROE, there weren't any rules, and where anything could happen at anytime. And where we never went above 12,000ft ever, always CAPed at 3,500 AGL, and often egressed near ground effect. Most all engagements were well below 10K, and vectors were in the weeds.
On the negative side, Darwinian natural selection took over in those days with few rules and a wild west mentality. A lot of men and equipment planted themselves into the dirt or the deep, which naturally later led to hard and soft decks, and the many other needed safety rules.
But if you lived through it, it was fabulous fun and great, real world training.
