Pretty much the guys in the upper ranks are pretty good. Some are great but their rank doesnt show it. Some are total fugazzis.
All in all this rank thing spawns a lot of dweebery. AH could get rid of it and not miss a beat. If anything it will lessen a lot of the dweebery we see, "and a lot of the dweebery isn't only done by the higher ranks". You might have guys ranked 551 that want to get into the upper 500 so he'll start vulching a lot more, spawn camp...ect
Generally I can tell the ones who care about rank because they will howl, whine, snivel, and call you a cheater, when you shoot them down. I had one such character call me a "stick stirrer" in a PM after I shot down his perked corsair even tho I was behind him the entire time of the engagement.

When you start PM'ing total strangers and accuse them of stuff then its probably time to find a new hobby. But some people, and squads, take this phony rank thing very seriously.