So you can’t slam your hand on the Personnel officer’s desk and say, “give me a job I’m qualified for or send me to jail”? And then demand an interview with the colonel - or general?
I’d like to think the US military doesn’t punish troops for being overly motivated.
Not really. Enlisted personnel, especially junior enlisted personnel, are basically faceless minions to many officers. The scenario you describe would more likely be punished by insubordination charges than actually getting anything done for the person involved.
Heck, my military service was unusual in that I was trained to tell officers when they had their heads up their arses. AIUI, that’s not normal for the US military. Certainly not the rather crude way we used to do it. And even there it was easy to go too far: I nearly got masted for putting out in the ship’s POD that several O-4’s where dinq on their training requirements, like they were normal people aboard ship.