They sent lots of guys directly to RPA's (remotely piloted aircraft) from 2009ish until 2013ish when they established a pipeline for separate (much cheaper) training for RPA's. I don't think they give them out to UPT students anymore but one could always get assigned an RPA later in their career.
I too thought it was BS for a UPT student to incur a ten year commitment for operating RPA's.