ben anderson
Superstar
so skipping them and going straight for the sec+ would be a better route? even with little to no knowledge of IT?I would suggest start at a help desk or call center just to get some documented experiance, most don't really need any certs, and try to go to a jr. college or tech school and get a certificate in the area of IT you want to get into. But an A+ and Net+ aren't really huge things that will get you a job or make you standout. So you might not get a adequate RoI on it if you go that route.
DoD wise you won't be able to get a TS with a felony, but you could get a Secret if there was a enough time passed since and you've been clean. So if you have the chance for a secret position, go after it, be honest on the sf-86 and you might be able to get in the DoD sector.