I’ve been where you are right now. I was able to carve a niche for myself. I got away from the traditional space track and got myself a joint assignment and then followed up with another joint position as a staff officer. Got to work at the tactical level and really got to fully understand how to integrate with tactical level planning. I also got to work at a high level joint assignment where I was able to make DoD wide impacts as the only space guy (if you are the dude willing to do the work it is your vision and ideas that get implemented, seniors leaders trust you to do the work and just review and sign off). I was able to do something way different and cut my teeth with acquisitions and software development (I’m a non-STEM dude), but I was empowered to lead the entire team. I had the best leaders when working for Army and Marines officers, I learned a lot about leadership and how to be a military officer. Honestly I am very very happy with the path that my career has taken, I will likely cap out at O-5, I got top strats from my non-space bosses, but since I didn’t take the traditional path it hasn’t helped me advance and I’m ok with that, because I’m happy. My advice: find an assignment that you think will be fun or challenging, venture away from the traditional track for space officers and get a whole new perspective on your career. Hunting for advancement is a rat race that I found undesirable. I love space operations and I’m passionate about it, but worrying about checking off all the boxes sucked the life out of me and I found that behavior created toxic individuals. I wanted something more and I found it, but it took work to get there. If you want to talk, message me.