She-Wolf, all the members of the raiding party were volunteers, there were many more volunteers than places in the party, and RAdm. Fluckey included himself as leader of the raiding party until forced to withdraw by a mini-mutiny of his officers. Check here:
http://www.homeofheroes.com/profiles...s_fluckey.html
The rest of Fluckey's (and Barb's) exploits were no more risky than those of other successful boats and commanders, although he lasted longer than many. Fluckey was indeed "Lucky" because he was one of the few early-war skippers to both be successful AND survive till the end of the war. In this, he was more fortunate than, say, Morton or Dealey, but they and others all took similarly great risk.
All US submariners were volunteers, and only the best of every rank got to stay in the boats. Anyone who felt it was too risky could get off at the next stop.
Having been born with one useless eye, I have never served in the military, much less in combat, I have only respect and gratitude for those who have done my fighting for me. YMMV