ders_dad,
All three of my USNA kids majored in engineering. 2014er was a mechE major, the other two are Ocean Engineering majors. They all three had several civilian instructors that had previously taught at other universities, many of them top tier engineering schools. They all seemed to indicate the caliber of courses were on par with those schools. My MechE's capstone project was done in conjunction with engineering students from Notre Dame. My 2016 Ocean Engineering major is now a Civil Engineer Officer. My now M2C is hoping to go Nuke Subs and is most likely going to do some grad work before she even graduates USNA. Prior to graduating, engineering majors are given the opportunity to take the FE/EIT exam.
I think you see more USAFA grads going into "engineering" career fields because USNA wants its grads to go into unrestricted line jobs if medically qualified (tip of the spear operational communities), USAFA doesn't do this. USAFA grads can service select support career fields out of the Academy. So USAFA grads can go right into Civil Engineering or Developmental Engineering, or Acquisitions. My daughter is only in CEC because she DOR'd from pilot training and was re-designated into CEC.
Service Academy Grads, be it Navy or Air Force (my husband and I are USAFA grads, hubby was a Mech E major) are very sought after if they decide to leave the military and pursue a civilian career, not just because of the top tier education they receive, but also because of the leadership training, EXPERIENCE in project management, and opportunities to supervise they receive through their military service.