Late start on my financial life – I need some candid perspectives

I’ve been working with recruiters as I am about to join the U.S. military active duty – and I need some perspectives on Military Finances and a retirement plan, from current service members. I already researched and got other perspectives from my recruiter and other Air Force related subreddits.

First, a little background. I’m 39, divorced, no kids, no family, a green card holder (so I can only enlist) and intend to naturalize when I join. My overall dreams are to be involved in strategic long-term choices within the Air Force – so I intend to apply for OTS soon as possible. I already have a foreign engineering bachelors (high GPA) and a STEM PhD from the U.S. together with some work experience in tech. Unfortunately basically all jobs in my actual field require clearance or U.S. citizenship so I can’t really work in my field right now. Naturalizing through the military might help with that.

Talking finances: I immigrated from a poor country where I was also an orphan, so I had absolutely nothing when I got here in my 30s. For the next few years I earned only meager stipends while pursuing research which meant I also had no savings. I then recently gained a lot of debt from my ex-wife thanks to a divorce with no pre-nup, and also debts of legal and medical natures. So at 39 I have no nest egg, no savings, no retirement savings, no investments. My current job pays slightly over 6 figures but it is only available in the super-expensive NYC, and combined with my ex-marital debt settlement I have nothing left each month even though I am frugal. Also, I don’t enjoy this job – it’s just fine.

I understand that I will earn only 1/3 of my salary coming in as an E3 with no BAS and no BAH, but based on my calculations I will still be able to save money each month (thanks to SCRA benefits on the high interest debt, and also thanks to the free housing), which I can’t do right now. Plus I get to naturalize which will help my future earning potential.

My plan is to enlist active duty, relocate wherever the Air Force takes me, naturalize, try to commission to have more responsibility (try to get in while I’m under the new age limit), and stick it through 20 years in the Air Force so I can get military pension (which will be the only one I have).

If I don’t get to commission, I plan to exit after only 4 years of enlistment and with my brand new citizenship I can apply for government jobs or do other civilian research for which I currently have no clearance. Also while I am in the military (if leadership approves) I intend to do programming side-gigs in my free time to make more money, especially since I will not be thinking about any further education while I am enlisted or commissioned.

Are there any blind spots in this financial plan of mine? Is there something significant you can see which could knock it all off-course? Thanks.