Seconded. In my rating (OTM, which doesn't exist any longer), PO2 was about as high as you could go and still spend most of your time actually working on the gear. I definitely wasn't eager to sit at a desk and fill out PMS schedules. But we were often told, "Move up, not out." Given that those were the only choices offered, I eventually moved out.

In the Navy, curiosity can be a dangerous trait. On the one hand, I got a medal when I left one command, in part due to some of the reports I managed to coax out of the supply database. On the other hand, I later learned that the civilians at CACI were defintely less than pleased when I wrote them a letter pointing out how easily I had cracked the password security on that same supply database. You need to remember that you're in a world where the least common denominator rules, because sometimes the least common denominator is all that's left to guard against Very Bad Things.

These aren't toys any longer; they are artifacts. If you're serious about keeping your artifacts around, you need to remember this.

I volunteer at the Computer History Museum, and they're very particular about this. Wearing white cotton gloves as you pick up an old Atari joystick may seem silly, but that's the rule. There's very little information about how long plastics will last, so keep your grubby little fingers off.