The military definitely standardizes the details. Anybody who's been in the military knows this. Here's the US Navy/USMC guide to formatting correspondence and memos.[1] They use Times New Roman. (Upgraded in 2018 from Courier New.)

Consistency in the details means that the failure modes are known. This is a big help when you have to bring everything you need.

[1] https://www.marines.mil/portals/1/Publications/SECNAV%20M%20...

James Beniger and JoAnne Yates are amongst two scholars who've studied and written on this in detail. Beniger's book, The Control Revolution (1986) particularly.

I've had jobs where my mission parameters were outlined (we gotta achieve X by Y date) and I've had jobs that were vague opportunity areas (here's a team of X people, we think there's an opportunity in Y, see what you can do). The "worst" is I've had managers that asked me a ton of annoying questions to make sure I've done my due diligence, which in retrospect I appreciate.

So I guess that's to say, at least some "civilian jobs" offer that indeed so don't be discouraged - hopefully you will eventually be in one that gives you more latitude.

Edward Deci's Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self-Motivation is a great book on this.