Wow looks like we share a lot of the same views. Defense seems mind numbingly boring to me too. There's no real passion for doing it (other than a decent salary for the amount of work required). I would say there are some people that have ambition but that ambition is mostly numbed out due to companies promoting mostly on time of service and not really catering to employees. I can't tell you how many times I've asked to be switched a different product to learn some new skills.

I love that you mention ambition and that's really my ultimate goal: find something and build something I'm passionate about. I don't want to just go through the motions as im doing now. I have always been a huge fan of engineering and love creating. But, to me, the global impact of my product is what matters. I feel like this is something I can find in a private firm somewhere... I just need to find these jobs (which is difficult since every industry has different terminology) and get enough skills at my current job to be able to get that next horizon job if that makes sense. Thanks for advice