Went to school (Virginia Tech) on ROTC scholarship - finished with M.S. in Aerospace Eng., emphasis on structures
Got an educational delay of active duty to continue on for my M.S. at VT in Engineering Mech, emphasis on composite material & structures.
Air Force decides to send to to Los Angeles AFB, to work in an area I have absolutely no background in.
While I'm there, I teach myself astrodynamics, and managed to get into an internship program available for company grade officers. This allowed me to work hands-n on the astrodynamics dept. of a defense company. My CO denied my first request to participate in this program, but I went back and asked again, which was not my nature at the time. Was a very stressful decision. Did well at the internship, published some papers.
Got out of the Air Force 1 year later (4 years total). Didn't see any future beyond pushing papers as an engineer in the Air Force. There are some opportunites, but few & far between.
Got a job with a smallish defense contractor in Colorado Springs - I doubt I would have been offered any hands-on jobs if I hadn't done the intership, and published out of it. I had some high level clearances out of the Air Force which helped as well.
Got acquired by another company, didn't like the new deal so found a position with the company I had done the internship with.
Busted my @ss, got some good break, waited out some lean times, and, for the moment, things are looking good. Doing interesting work and getting paid well for it
edit Currently doing astrodynamics & satellite operations R&D