I agree. Any intervention is going to have to be "Doylist" not "Watsonian", because you're in essence disagreeing with the simulated world. That means you'll have to break strict RP in some way to do it, and removing affected officers is the least-disruptive way to do that. You just need a good RP cover.
One good cover would be stim-addiction. Zero-G fighter pilots have to be on a cocktail of stimulants and nootropics to pull off combat manoeuvres at such crazy speeds, and every now and then they go off the rails. The navy is covering it up, they don't want people to know just how terrible these drugs can be over the long term. Stim addicts are honourably discharged, given a full military pension, forbidden to mention anything to anyone, and left shaken wrecks of their former selves.