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WEST POINT, N.Y. — When Megan McNulty, a 22-year-old cadet at the United States Military Academy here, graduates this spring, she won’t be heading off to a conventional unit at an Army installation. Instead, she’ll start her Army career spending a year in Dublin, Ireland, studying international development at University College. She’s among a small minority of West Point students who are “breaking the routine,” she said.

“We’re getting away from the classic trajectory of what an Army career looks like,” she told Military Times. “People like us are already pushing the envelope. You need some officers to do that.” But McNulty is already cognizant that the nontraditional assignment may put her career at risk if she falls behind her peers in fulfilling the Army’s rigid requirements for advancement. “The Army will try to move some things around so I can still be with my year group. I’ll have less platoon leader time, but then at the career captains’ course mark, hopefully I'll be back with the class of 2016,” she said, referring to the normal progression for the first five years of a junior officer’s career.

via www.militarytimes.com

I'm loathe to take seriously the opinions of a 2nd Lieutenant, and Cadets have even less experience upon which to build their opinions.

Having said that, this is a pretty good article overall about the issues of Defense Officer Personnel Management Act (DOPMA) and the stovepipe it tends to put in place in terms of career management.

At least initially, that first five year block, it makes some sense to essentially have all junior officers following the same path.

Junior officers are both expected to be out there doing the job. The basic path is to get your branch or warfare qualification, and make your first tour as, say, a platoon leader. After a year or two of that, you can expect to move to either company XO, or over to the battalion staff, learning the admin side of how the Army works.

One big drawback to DOPMA is that it is structured as if every officer is and should be on a career path to become a general or flag officer, when instead we know that's reserved for a very, very small percentage.

And the 36 month joint tour requirement has been a major influence of the establishment of ever larger headquarters that don't necessarily add anything to the fight.

So, we believe there certainly is room for improvement to personnel policies. Of course, until Congress is willing to address the issue, not much can me done.