The AF and their recruiting methods are the result of a situation where the enlisted personell by and large do not (and never will) fight...
The AF rarely operates in hostile territory, so with the exception of SF/SAR, security police, and aircrew of the few combat aircraft (AC-130 is the only one I can think of since they pulled the guns from the B-52s) that carry enlisted personell, enlisted personell do not (and won't have to) fight...
It's an AF-unique situation (even USN enlisted personell have a chance of finding themselves in combat if their ship/sub is in a battle), which results in the AF-unique recruiting angles, training, and requirements for enlisted airmen...
WRT officer training, that all depends on the institution. The AF relies heavily on ROTC and the Academy for cadet training, and ROTC of course varies in quality from program to program...