The US DoD is very much a rules-governed organization; at its size, it has to be. Unfortunately, its size and scope means that there are so many written rules t

The US DoD is very much a rules-governed organization; at its size, it has to be. Unfortunately, its size and scope means that there are so many written rules that no one could know all or most of the rules, and a lifelong high achiever might know most rules within his domain. This means that it's a capriciously rules-governed organization, lending it flexibility and rigidity each in all the wrong places. The whole organization desperately needs effective lookup within those instructions, manuals, and directives. You could achieve a steeper learning curve within silos and some rudimentary ability to understand silos you interact with. A sign of progress would be seeing all coordination accompanied by reference numbers for the relevant rules, instructions, etc. Edit: there's a lot that's classified in defense work, of course, but plenty is unclassified and even readily accessible on the internet without credentials. And all that stuff is what screws up HR, pay, and work travel experiences for just about everyone in the organization.