How do you look out for yourself and your career without appearing totally self-interested?

You have to pay your dues first. I totally support "the men before you" mentality and the mission first. However, once you get a little older and well established, you need to take care of yourself and your family. Very rarely do I stay at work passed 1700. After that its my families turn, not the mission not the men.

My DS told me "no one truly cares about you, but you". While this is not entirely true, if you run into a guy that tramples people on his way to the top this definitely fits. And there are plenty of those guys in the Army.

I recommend a balance. Derive happiness by helping and caring for others, but take care of yourself at the same time. At the end of the day all a man has to stand on is his reputation as a human being, not his rank or uniform flare. If an opportunity is there, seize it. If the opportunity is there for a Soldier, seize it. It's possible to do both. I promise.

As others say which I echo, you're the one who will best take care of your career. So what you want to do is only show "partial" self interest in taking care of *your* career? You obviously care about your career, so how is trying to take care of your own career not going to come off as self-interest. By not taking care of your career, is that no interest? People will think what they want, so what does it matter if you want to go to troop schools or training that leads you to bigger and better things?

One of my former soldiers recently found out that if he had been to BLC, he'd be an E5 now. He's met all the other requirements short of that one school. For 16 months at the least. That pissed him off because his unit didn't send him, but he was more mad at himself for not pressing for that harder. So a bump in rank, pay grade, and responsibilities, could have all been had if he showed a little more self-interest and worked harder to get that school slot.

I myself turned down a promotion to E6, because in doing so I would have had to go to another unit. My unit was trying to pull me back over. I couldn't wait, or do my 1 year at the other unit as an E6 and return to my unit. Why would I do this? Because the promotion meant going to a transportation unit to do a job I did as an E3/E4, that I would not have learned much from, and would fail to utilize my skills, clearance, and would not offer me the training I wanted. I declined promotion to stay with my unit so I could get advanced training beneficial to my MOS, my future MOS, and my civilian career field as well.

Show your willingness to do your job, and your MOS. Be better than the next guy and when those details come up, your less likely to be sent, unless it just happens to be your turn, or you lose out because of rank. Ask for those schools you want to go with, and justify why they are beneficial to you, your shop, and your career. If your first line is doing their job, they should regularly be counseling you, to include what your goals are, and helping you get there.

I've rambled on long enough but leave you with 2 quotes.
The answer is always no unless you ask.
If you want something you have never had, you must be willing to do something you have never done.