I have one point to add: the mission that you saw references only one facet of what the UAS does. Not all UAS missions involve having the asset orbit somewhere waiting for a call to drive over an engage a pre-selected well defined target - there are actual missions where it is the UAS that detects and engages the target solo, where the UAS detects and coordinates for other assets to engage, where the UAS detects the threat and monitors, ..... the list goes on - and it needs to do this from a location where it has appropriate coverage, is also not detected, and is not in conflict with a myriad of other airborne assets. Just because the one mission you observed did not rely on a high amount of SA, judgment and solid decision-making does not mean none of them do.
As far as why every USAF pilot (as a military officer) should recognize the UAS for what it is, I will reference this to C-17's only as an example (not as a slam as I am a former heavy driver). Many C-17 drivers have an impact on the war, but it is more of an indirect impact. They get the cargo and troops where they need to be, but pretty much every C-17 pilot from CP to AC can do that. I know you do medevac and other important missions, but nearly any strategic airlift asset can be used on any of those missions - they are definitely important missions, but as individual crewmembers your impact is somewhat limited. But, if we take one experienced C-17 driver and put him in a UAS, and that one experienced C-17 driver puts his UAS where he knows it will utilize its strengths most suitably (lets say in this case he stands up against poor direction from above) and that one C-17 driver in concert with the sensor operator decides that the dudes on the ground need coverage in this area (not that one), and those decisions result in additional threats being detected, engaged and prevented from harming US troops - then that one C-17 driver will have had more of a direct impact on the war (especially in the lives of those troops) than he could have otherwise had in a cockpit. There are dudes in cockpits having more of a direct impact than the guy in the UAS (A-10 CAS with troops in contact, even AC-130 CAS to placate DTFL, etc) - but the guy in the UAS is having more of a direct impact than the majority of other pilots out there right now. In a future war and different environment that may change, but that is what it is right now.