Vantaggi
There is the potential to do some really cool research if you can get in the right situation. You also have the potential to work with some really knowledgeable colleagues who are seeking to do great science. Lower management is generally really fantastic.
Svantaggi
The is a serious failure of upper management. There are layers upon layers of bureaucracy that just don't make any sense. We now have "Pillars of ARL", "Directorates", "Campaign Plan Areas" and "Essential Research Areas". It is a train wreck of overlapping research agendas that don't make sense to anyone outside the twisted ARL bureaucracy. The only hope is that we get a new Director that comes in to clean up the mess and make the command and funding lines more straightforward.