US Department of Defense – “Lots of early responsibility, training opportunities, growth potential.. but a lot of BS as well”

Pros

DOD provides a lot of opportunity to become involved in projects early on and have lots of responsibility. I have largely been able to steer the direction of my career.
Pay for engineering is pretty competitive and there are opportunities for cash awards for outstanding service.
Good health and retirement benefits.

Cons

In the field of Materials Engineering there is some advancement restriction due to the relatively small size of the division.
The best employees may not always be recognized for their contributions whereas other employees may get credit due to some work being more visible.
Management tends to not care much about their employees and doing what is best for them.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay for performance systems in engineering are extremely difficult to implement as engineering does not make widgets.
Management needs to have a firm understanding of what every employee does in order to effectively evaluate them.
Top performers need to be rewarded somehow.
Flexible schedules would greatly improve quality of life for government employees.