Not for nothing, no. This man was still going into space. WHOA! Space. Just think about it.

I already have. This man had already been in space. Neil Armstrong had already earned astronaut wings before joining the Apollo program. He was an X-15 pilot.

He joined the Apollo program to enjoy the challenge of learning how to fly to the moon and land on it. Orbital flights would have given him nothing beyond the X-15, which was a more exciting spacecraft according to most.

I believe the early crews actually carried out phases and exercises that would assist the later mission(s).

What "phases and exercises"? Using what equipment? In what state of development? If, for example, you want to argue that lunar orbit rendezvous wasn't attempted until Apollo 12 or 13, then you have to answer why all the pertinent data suddenly became available after Apollo 10.