A bodyguard full of basic lieutenants would be ridiculous. A fresh lieutenant has been trained in command, but might have *no* combat experience - it'd be like having a bodyguard of expensive privates, and a waste of expensive training.
A bodyguard of sergeants, even sergeant majors, would make more sense. Seems like corporals would be more normal, though.
Normally, yes, but... They won't be simply assigned there from an academy, of cours, but any group considered "elite" could be treated this way - much like with pilots, why not?
This can reflect that they should be treated as officers in some important matters, like advanced training (they have to protect someone from
ninjas commandos who
will have advanced skills), logistics (pay, quarters, supplies, etc; where do they eat?), legal and chain-of-command issues (what it takes to shuffle them to a different unit? in what circumstances they should be moved from and back to active service? what security clearance they will be given and via which procedures? should they be able to command soldiers and NCO around the command center in an emergency? a squad of bodyguards would need its own commander, presumably of a higher rank - should the rest be ready for a field promotion?) - and, yes, plain old status.
It's easy to see how bodyguard for high-ups may have more in common with officers than with soldiers. Just from the way a military organization rolls. So it can be appliable in settings from "war elephants" to "spaceships", as long as the basic structure of ranks is similar enough.
Of course, all this applies only when the protected officer is high enough on the
food command chain - close to whichever is considered "strategical level" of importance in the given setting.
My understanding of the pilot thing is that planes are incredibly expensive, so it makes sense to only let people fly them after extensive education.
This, in itself, does not make much sense.
And anyone with that much education (which is very separate from experience and live training) is a commissioned officer, or warrant officer, almost by definition.
Even not counting "purely technical" side. They must be ready to act autonomously - make decisions on their own. Which
also requires screening and training, of course. And is supposed to be an officer's job, kind of by definition.
I might be misremembering my history lessons, but didn't USSR have sports teams made up of "officers"?
Right, it was already done with commandos - obviously, handpicked ones, not random rank-and-file.