Yes for the Navy/AF it's the honey that attracts the kind of people they want to go on to senior leadership. That requires education along the way, and lots of it. Slightly different animal than a journeyman professional.

The Navy has over the years had several programs for enlisted (or warrant/LDO) pilots. Those have never lasted, don't know why, but in recent decades those aviators were always limited to non-tailhook aircraft. I don't think that had anythig to do with flying ability, but rather tailhookers tend to promote to flag at a higher rate than non-tailhookers due to front-line vice support missions. I'm pretty sure they just wanted to reserve those slots for non-restricted comissioned officers.