1. I always liked ships as a kid for some reason, and when I saw TOP GUN and the planes land on the ship, I thought that was incredible. I was in 4th grade and I couldn't read or watch enough about it. (Still feel this way, and I absolutely love landing on ships even though I am a helo pilot. Small boy landings, I love that challenge even to this day.)
2. As I got older, I seriously considered two major factors between the Navy and the Air Force commissioning programs: (1) Where would I likely live in a career as a pilot for either one? Most USAF duty stations did not appeal to me whereas the locations for Navy locations did appeal to me; and (2), if, for some reason I didn't end up qualifying as a pilot, what was the worst imaginable job each service could throw me at in my 18 year old brain - for the Navy, it was subs, and for the Air Force it was Missileers (spelling?). I figured Subs would be way cooler and had a more interesting mission set than sitting in an underground bunker in the middle of nowhere waiting to end the world. (I made the right choice for me; my perception matched reality here as far as I can tell.)
3. I genuinely wanted to serve on ships. I have my bad days like anyone else, but in general, I don't entirely hate the boat like a lot of people do. I think I'd be more frustrated deploying to a town where I couldn't take liberty, or some remote part of the world where even if I could take liberty, it would be pointless. At least the Navy gets port calls and the expectations for work while in port are very low.
4. Navy uniforms seemed way cooler. (Still feel this way.)
5. The Navy culture both in and out of aviation is something I thought I'd fit in more with. (To a large extent, I think that was and remains true.)