A similar requirement was Air Force officers and the Master's degree. Although it is not written anywhere it was a known "requirement" that in order to make Major in the active Air Force you had to have a Master's degree. We can argue until the cows come home about whether it was necessary to be a good field grade officer (and I'm sure there were occasional exceptions) you were making a mistake if you thought you would be part of the "exception". Stop trying to find reasons to avoid getting the degree (if you really want to fly for the legacies) and just GET IT.