Pros
The people you work with are brilliant and there is lot to learn from each other. The projects are really cool and many are leading edge. The management tries to treat everyone like family, and will sacrifice to do the best they can for the employees. There were a few times when DOD customers were not ready with new contracts by the time existing ones ended. I know the owner and other managers went without salary during these times in order to not have to lay people off. I don't think very many people knew that.
Cons
Things were going great for a few years, then the bottom fell out of the defense R&D side of the business when the budget from Obama and the Democrat congress caught up with them. I know managers tried to keep everyone on the best they could, but the military lab customers evaporated, and that was most of the company's revenue at the time. The commercial aircraft and engine division in Arizona wasn't affected so much, and they were doing okay and even expanding a bit I think. There is also a division in Ohio, and I know there was a lot of emphasis on growing their business with electronics.