That said, the type A nature of this business tends to attract people who want to have command some day.
Very true.
However, not everyone who was attracted to Naval Aviation for command potential still has those desires after X-number of years in service. As experiences/priorities/perceptions change, some people get out, some go Reserves (as I've gotten to know more and more Reservists, I've got nothing but respect for the experience they bring to the fight (both training and operational)), and some just hang out until retirement. This doesn't necessarily mean that they have any less desire to continue serving than their command-oriented counterparts - the fact of the matter is that the golden career path forces them to make decisions that sometimes take them out of the cockpit...and the uniform...forever.
Is a one-size-fits-all career/promotion system worth the loss of this kind of experience and investment?