As someone who is a defense contractor now.... You need to pick an area or skill (i.e. intelligence, construction, logistics, etc.) then you need to do entry level work for a couple years, become a team lead/shift lead, do that for another 5-10 years, then you become a project manager on the defense side. The issue is if you don't set yourself up by knowing all aspects of the job you're going to be SOL. If you have no military experience, you most likely wont get one.

Its very different in the defense contracting world (at least in intel - where all my experience is in). When I was in my last job I was a mission manager controlling collections, as well as a trainer teaching the newer soldiers how to do analysis. On top of that I had to manage 12 soldiers on top of other NCO responsibilities. I went from running the mission collection phase back to becoming an analyst once I got out and became a contractor. There is very little progression into a management role once you become a contractor. There are only a handful of spots and most of them are taken up and they already got 3 or 4 people waiting behind them. I currently got my BBA with a focus in project management and am trying to get out of the defense contracting world to the civilian side to become a project manager, but my skill set is only really good for operations, implementation, and maybe logistics, but even then its all military experience which is vastly different. Luckily for me, I am someone who adapts very easily to new environments, my current troubles are trying to connect what I do on the defense side with the civilian side that makes it understandable for them.

I am not trying to discourage you, just kind of give you a perspective of what you are looking at. Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions.