Most careers require a person to choose and construct a development plan. In other words, selecting a career is not enough; rather, one has to be willing to work on acquiring the skills and competencies needed to pursue a chosen career successfully. A career development plan is one of the sure ways that professionals identify the careers they want to pursue. The development plan further assists a person to develop the career management skills needed for their chosen line of work. Through a career development plan, Zold (2014) indicates that people are able to understand their “strengths and weaknesses; needs and wants; and interest, capabilities and aspirations” (p.1). Once the understanding of the foregoing items is attained, a person is then able to link them with their current educational skills. One is also able to identify future educational and/or training needs necessary for career development. This paper will indicate a five-year career development plan for this writer – a First Sergeant (1SG) who has been working in the United States Military for 19 years. The plan covers the entire five years and is hence considered a short-term plan. It identifies goals and objectives, skills and competencies, training, job and work attributes, and the work-life balance requirements of a military career. Goals and Objectives The goals and objectives below are based on the need to acquire what a person, who has worked in the military for 19 years, needs to develop his career even further. Goals  1. To become a Sergeant Major (SGM) within the next five years of military service  2. Earn a Master’s Degree in Management and Leadership in the next two years  3. Hold a nominative position of General Objectives The objectives of this career development plan are:   * Complete the Master’s degree currently being pursued.   * To become a Battalion Command Sergeant and Brigade Command Sergeant. Each of these two positions will take two years, and are a requirement if one is to hold a nominative position as General.   * Attending the United States Sergeant Majors Academy Are the objectives measurable? The above objectives are measurable because completing the Master’s degree program will be marked through graduation. The graduation will signal that this writer has successfully learned the course materials and passed all evaluations set by the course evaluators. Attending the US Sergeant Majors Academy will be marked by a successful selection to the next class, which will be in August 2014. The nominative position of General will be assessed based on whether this writer becomes a Battalion Command Sergeant and a Brigade Command Sergeant. Each of the foregoing positions will require two years of service. Work-life Balance Transitioning from a 1SG to a SGM requires dedication and attention to detail. As Chetwynd (2006) notes, the SGM has “authority over the other non-commissioned officers (NCO) in his battalion” (p. 1). He is responsible for forming platoons into companies and is responsible for compiling information about the companies and giving it to the Command Sergeant Major (CSM). Ultimately, the new responsibilities demand more time at work, not forgetting that working in the military requires that a senior NCO