ISC^2 mafia requires 5 years cumulative, full time, paid experience in 2 domains; one year is waiverable w/ a Bachelors. One can take and pass it with no experience, but they won't award the cert until you meet requirements. They'll only let someone without necessary experience claim Associate of ISC^2. It a real racket.

In the Springs, Sec+ would be the way to go to break into IT, especially with little to no experience. Sec+ in combo w/ Secret = at least a Service Desk position which would pay better than private sector low-mid analyst/engineer for the area.