Part of the problem is that for all everyone (rightly) drags the Bureau, they also have their hands tied by Congress. You can only promote and move around officers as prescribed by Federal law, and until the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act gets reformed, you're ultimately stuck in the land of up-or-out where folks' promotion clocks are ticking the moment they commission. It's an industrial-age model that's strangely like a union seniority list, but without the employment guarantee.