[jess35]

The AF relied on a highly technically trained enlisted force that would probably not accept being treated as the other services enlisteds' were

So, that's the way it works? I guess my highly trained Navy buddies and I had it all wrong.

[Herosmith]

Well you were on a ship, no? Wouldn't it be cost prohibitive to make the facilities of a ship into what you could get at an airbase? Consider the logistics as well as the rationale.