http://www.usafa.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123431812
Quite a lot of missile slots this year.
Happy to say that I got my first pick, Intel!
The good thing is that with a lot of the changes coming to AFGSC, it won't be as awful as in years past. I pulled over 265 alerts under North Dakota in the bad old days.
The pressure to become an instructor/evaluator is off, as that can't happen during the first tour anymore. The "gotcha" testing and pressure to get 100% has also changed. Commanders won't be able to use that as the sole metric to rank everyone. Inspection focus is allegedly going to change, too. Now, everyone pulls alert at 8-0 and moves from DMCCC to MCCC in the first tour. After that, there is a second crew tour for instructor/evaluator positions, and there is more opportunity to "crossflow" to other AFSCs.
While I'm out of the service, I know plenty of guys still involved in Minuteman ops, and they are enthusiastic about these changes. Frankly, they have been necessary since SAC was around (an organization that was infamous for eating its young). I can't know for sure, but I don't think it's as bad as it used to be. There is reason to be hopeful.
The Malmstrom scandal and some of the other negative publicity have actually helped the career field. I would be much happier if I was a 2LT heading to a capsule today than I was when I did it.
And coming from a Minot guy, I would say to tell your Firstie friends to list their base preferences thusly: 1) FE 2) Malmstrom 3) Minot. Freezing really is the reason.
(although, you know you're in trouble when the "tropic" base is in Wyoming).