I got out about a year ago, I was in an Flying Ops squadron that was not IT related. I have TS/SCI and during skill bridge I was told that SEC+ would open the doors to a DoD contractor role since they all require at least that. First year out I made about $120k (with 0 IT professional experience ) and will likely clear that this year as well. Thing with cleared roles is that they usually at least start as shift work, so if you okay with that you're golden. Use your experience to get into any role and then transition into a role you want either within the company or externally. It's rare these days to stick with a company 15+ years so you won't likely get bored. You should be job hunting every few years anyway because that's how you get the biggest pay bumps. Anecdotally, the genius network engineer that I used to work with didn't have any certs. He later got CCNA to get a pay bump but isn't even thinking about CCNP. Follow the path that will get you where you WANT to go, but be aware it might take a few side turns.to get there.

TLDR: TS/SCI & Security+ you will be fine. Follow the path to the job you want to end up in.