The military (in particular the US military) is not set up to accommodate the job satisfaction you might expect in a civilian job. If you somehow find yourself

The military (in particular the US military) is not set up to accommodate the job satisfaction you might expect in a civilian job. If you somehow find yourself under a bad leader (and lots of soldiers/sailors/marines/airmen do) then you basically just ride it out until that person either rotates out to a new duty station or you do. Generally speaking though, the quality of leadership in the military is higher than it is in the civilian world. Most officers are basically middle-management and I was blessed by some really outstanding company commanders while I was in. That said, there are no guarantees of that and if you find yourself in a bad command, you have few options as an officer (besides resigning your commission) and fewer as an enlisted guy. If there is any upside to this, it's that good commanders will earn the loyalty and respect of their people and those people will literally give their lives to the mission for him. Bad commanders don't get that kind of honor and as such their mission readiness and reputation often suffers.