air force minot assignment

A TikToker's viral reaction to her Air Force assignment has ignited support and commiseration about a widely-dreaded base in North Dakota

• TikToker Callie Green's hilariously horrified reaction to her Air Force assignment has been viewed 14 million times.
• Those in the know assumed she was assigned to Minot, North Dakota, a unanimously dreaded base among airmen.
• Commenters have chimed in with sympathy and commiseration, while others are learning details about Air Force assignments for the first time.

A viral TikTok from a user who goes by Callie Green is shining a light on the Air Force assignment process for the uninitiated — specifically about an infamous base in North Dakota that is apparently widely dreaded among airmen. 

In Green's video, which has accrued 13.3 million views since it was shared on April 5, the TikToker and a colleague recorded themselves learning about their assignments. Inset text read, "POV: you put all overseas in your dream sheet, but the Air Force had other plans." 

Upon getting the news, neither verbalize the name of the base, but both dissolve into horrified laughter. "I was not expecting that," Green says in the video, as her colleague covers her mouth and repeatedly shouts, "No!"

Commenters were of two minds: They were either utterly clueless or knew precisely what the reactions meant. 

@calliegreenn finding out our assignments😍😍😍 ♬ original sound - Callie Green

"That NO made me IMMEDIATELY think she got MINOT," reads one of the video's top comments. Another said, "Me googling Minot because I ended on this side of tiktok and don't know what's happening."

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Green has not responded to commenters asking about the assignment, though she did react to going viral in response to a tweet from BuzzFeed News reporter Katie Notopoulus, who called the TikTok compelling and niche. 

Insider has reached out to Green for comment and confirmation about the speculations.

The Minot Air Force Base, located just south of the Canadian border, has become somewhat notorious, with others on TikTok bemoaning their assignments. 

In a December 2021 video with 364,000 views, the user @hutchyharley can be seen flipping off "whoever ... thought it would be funny to put me at Minot for four years." Months earlier, the user @jaciiie simply wrote, " I want to leave so bad, such a sick joke " after sharing her station with viewers.

@aimhighwhiting #military #whynotminot #minot #northdakota #airforce #fyp ♬ original sound - sp 🦈

In a video from February , user @aimhighwhiting captioned, "POV: you check your orders and see Minot, North Dakota," as he filmed himself jumping up from a chair in frustration and pretending to hurl his tablet onto the ground. 

Last year, Task and Purpose covered Minot's infamous status in the Air Force with more serious anecdotes. In addition to being in a frigid and remote location, the outlet reported that people claiming to be Minot veterans were anonymously posting on Facebook about being "overworked, mismanaged, and disrespected based on their gender."

At the time, Minot's chief of public affairs, Maj. Christopher Mesnard, told the outlet that leadership was addressing these concerns. 

Reactions to professional and educational assignments have become a massive draw on TikTok, including college acceptance results , as well as "Match Day," in which medical students learn where they will be completing their residencies.

Watch: What new Air Force recruits go through in boot camp

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Minot Air Force Base

Moving, pcsing to minot.

Welcome to Minot Air Force Base, your new assignment in the Air Force! We are thrilled to have you join us in the Magic City, and we’re here to assist you as you get settled in. Whether you’re an airman receiving your orders to Minot or a friend or family member visiting, you’ve come to the right place for information about life on and off base. Use our tips and info to make your PCS to Minot seamless.  

Situated just 13 miles north of Minot, North Dakota, along Highway 83, Minot AFB is a dynamic community with a constantly changing population. Currently, the base is home to approximately 5,550 active-duty members and 5,580 family members. As a recognized community by the United States Census Bureau, Minot AFB offers an array of amenities and services for military members and their families to enjoy.  https://www.minot.af.mil/About-Us/Newcomers/    

Aside from the abundant on-base facilities, Minot, a community of 50,000, is bursting with life, locally owned restaurants, many shopping options, and various things to see and do. From schools and healthcare to entertainment venues, parks, and culture offerings, Minot has something for everyone. We highly recommend making the short drive to town within your first few weeks on base.  

Explore the charm of downtown Minot , featuring distinctive bars, boutique shopping, and unparalleled dining options, as well as exciting events like pub crawls, art walks, and seasonal festivities. Stroll through impeccably maintained parks and captivating museums showcasing local history and culture. We can’t wait until you see Minot’s top attractions .

Escape the daily grind with your family at Roosevelt Park Zoo , open year-round, where you can observe majestic tigers on the prowl or watch sloths slowly traverse their tree branches. Watch your children learn and play at Magic City Discovery Center. They  climb through the prairie dog crawl, up the oil derrick, and pass through clouds, reaching a B-52 perched at the top of the 37-foot Magic Climber exhibit. Venture into the great outdoors with numerous wildlife refuges in the vicinity and plenty of opportunities for hunting, fishing, hiking, and kayaking. Don’t wait to discover all that Minot and the surrounding area offer!  

By living in Minot, you’ll be a part of a supportive community that cares about your well-being. Whether you’re looking for adventure or relaxation, Minot has something for everyone. We can’t wait to welcome you to Minot, and we hope you’ll love it here as much as we do! Stop by to say hi at 1020 S Broadway , where you can pick up your FREE guides to Minot, including attractions and dining. We also have a charming gift shop where you can find Scandinavian gifts, North Dakotan-made products, and Minot souvenirs.  

Browse our calendar of events  to see all the events happening in and around Minot. Follow us on Facebook  or Instagram to be in the know for all the cool things happening in the Magic City. Use our hashtag #MagicInMinot; we want to see where you explore. Our website is full of resources to find the best places to eat  or shop . We hope you get a feel of what the quality of life is like in Minot, and this makes your PCSing to Minot an easy transition. Welcome to Team Minot!  

Visiting Minot Air Force Base

If you’re visiting Minot or here to see family, keep your eyes on the skies for the B-52S. The bombers fly at 650 miles per hour and cover a lot of ground quickly! B-52S are frequently spotted in the Minot area, so be alert. If you want to see the base, you can submit a tour request form. Minot AFB tours are available from March to October and must be arranged in advance. They include a base tour with a brief mission overview, a B-52 static display, and an MPT tour. Visit here for current information. Former retired military members with a retained DOD (Department of Defense) card can access the base.   

Minot AFB proudly hosts the 5 th Bomb Wing and 91 st Missile Wing and is the only installation in the Department of Defense to host two legs of the Nuclear Triad. Established during the Cold War in 1957 as an Air Defense Command base, MAFB has a rich history. The 5th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Minot AFB operated F-106 and F-15 aircraft until 1988 when the air defense mission was eliminated. In 1961, B-52Hs were stationed at Minot and operated continuously under the 5th Bomb Wing when it relocated from Travis AFB, CA, in July 1968. In 1968, the 91st Missile Wing transitioned from B-52s at Glasgow AFB, Montana, to Minot AFB and the Minuteman I ICBM. In 1971, they became the first wing to operate Minuteman III. They have been on continuous alert operation every day since June 1968.  

Today, Minot AFB remains an integral part of the nation’s defense with a mission supporting the nuclear triad and maintaining global stability. The 91 MW’s new LGM-35A Sentinel weapon system will soon replace the aging Minuteman IIIs, and the 5 BW is set to receive updates on the B-52 bombers that will expand their lifetimes well into 2050. Team Minot is ready to deter 24/7/365, proving their motto that ‘Only the Best Come North.’  

For official news and events from Minot Air Force Base, visit their website . Follow the Northern Sentry , Minot AFB’s official newspaper, for events, news, and life on base.   

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New Cold-Assignment Incentive Pay Coming for Airmen and Guardians at 7 Bases

In a move aimed at incentivizing airmen and Guardians stationed in the remotest and coldest parts of the country, the Department of the Air Force has finally approved cold weather pay for troops at seven bases.

As of April 1, airmen and Guardians stationed at U.S. bases where temperatures sometimes drop 20 degrees below zero will earn the new lump-sum payment if they agree to serve at least a yearlong tour.

Locations that qualify for the incentive include North Dakota's Cavalier Space Force Station and Minot and Grand Forks Air Force Bases ; Alaska's Clear Space Force Station, Eielson Air Force Base and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson ; and Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana.

Read Next : Army Eyes Dramatic Cuts to Key Education Benefits for Soldiers

The announcement comes more than a year after passage of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, which included a provision for the services to provide an Arctic incentive pay.

A defense official told Military.com in January that the military's existing programs already compensate service members serving in those areas well enough, but the Department of the Air Force went ahead with its own program.

"Airmen and Guardians living in extremely cold conditions faced unique out-of-pocket costs," Alex Wagner, assistant secretary of the Air Force for manpower and reserve affairs, said in a statement to Military.com. "In addition to the assignment and retention benefits of the pay, it also comes down to making sure we do our best to take care of our service members and their families stationed at these critical installations."

Similar to the Army 's existing Remote and Austere Conditions Assignment Incentive Pay, the Air Force's new Cold Weather Incentive pay program "intends to ease the financial burden of purchasing certain cold weather essentials" like jackets and other Arctic-protective clothes, season-appropriate tires, engine block heaters and emergency roadside kits, the service told Military.com.

The pay ranges from $500 to $5,000 depending on location and how many dependents an airman or Guardian has. Though the program is effective as of April 1, the first pay date is July 1. If a service member moves to one of the seven locations between April 1 and June 30, they will receive the benefit retroactively, the Air Force said.

"We want to ensure airmen, Guardians and their families have the resources needed to safely live and work in an extreme cold-weather environment," Wagner said in the statement.

Notably, two of the nation's nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile bases are on the list: Malmstrom in Montana and Minot in North Dakota.

The announcement of the payment comes as the service's Cold War-era facilities at ICBM bases are being sanitized and investigated for toxins that could lead to cancer. Military.com has reported that both of those bases found levels of polychlorinated biphenyls -- a known carcinogen -- above the Environmental Protection Agency's threshold of 10 micrograms per 100 square centimeters.

Editor's note: This story was corrected to say Cavalier Space Force Station, Minot Air Force Base and Grand Forks Air Force Base are located in North Dakota.

Related : New Arctic Pay for Troops Was Passed by Congress a Year Ago. But the Pentagon Waved It Off.

Thomas Novelly

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Air Force Member Goes Viral With Priceless Reaction To Finding Out She’s Been Assigned To North Dakota

Ya hate to see it.

With my very little knowledge on the military, I guess learning your assignment can either be like waking up as a kid on Christmas Day, or it can be an absolute nightmare.

You have to think that most service members would much rather be stationed in places like California, Hawaii, or some place beautiful (and warm), and not in the middle of BFE.

Well, unfortunately for this woman in the Air Force, she got placed in BFE, and her reaction to learning this news is absolutely PRICELESS.

The viral TikTok was posted by a user named Callie Green, who wrote:

“POV: you put all overseas in your dream sheet, but the Air Force had other plans.”

Once the other woman, Aneleise Orticelli, sees the name of the base she’s placed at, her excitement turns to complete confusion and utter shock.

Green says:

“I was not expecting that.”

While the poor soul on her way to North Dakota keeps shouting:

“NO.”

@calliegreenn finding out our assignments ♬ original sound – Callie Green

One person said in the comments:

“That NO made me IMMEDIATELY think she got MINOT.”

The Minot Air Force base is located just south of the Canadian border in North Dakota, and is allegedly the most disliked air force base to be assigned to among new servicemembers.

A number of other comments understood the pain:

“That is 100% Grand Forks or Minot! I had the same reaction.”

“I’m Navy and I still guessing Minot!”

“I know a Minot assignment when I see one.”

“This is so Minot.”

“Welcome to Minot. Bring warm clothes. summer is only 2.5 months long.”

“Welcome to the Minot crew. We got two seasons, winter and construction.”

The video has over 15.5 million views to date.

But hey, at least they have a Scandinavian Heritage Park…

The Scandinavian Heritage Park located in Minot, North Dakota is a magical place. pic.twitter.com/YYa0ZyzdOf — Marshawn Friloux (@CoachMarshawn) March 10, 2023

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Cold, isolated and stretched thin – Why so many airmen hate Minot Air Force Base

"Somebody doesn’t give a shit about the nuclear mission or the people, and I guarantee you it’s not the mission."

By David Roza | Published Feb 1, 2022 8:51 AM EST

• Military Life

Late last month, airmen who have served at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota took to social media to air frustrations that they were overworked, mismanaged, and disrespected based on their gender.

“Minot is extremely toxic, especially certain squadrons,” wrote one person whose post was shared on the popular Facebook page Air Force amn/nco/snco , where, over the course of a week, 15 people claiming to be Minot veterans past and present wrote nine single-spaced pages’ worth of criticism of the base.

One said she was told she was “useless because I was pregnant,” while serving at the base. “If I were to stay in, there would be no guarantee that I will be alive in a year or two from now.”

When asked about the comments by Task & Purpose, a Minot official said base leadership was listening to airmen.

“Minot Air Force Base leadership at all levels are listening to and actively engaging the concerns of our airmen and families,” said Maj. Christopher J. Mesnard, chief of public affairs at Minot. “Commanders and Senior Enlisted Leaders at the wing, group and squadron levels are directly involved with our personnel in order to ensure Team Minot has the care and services available to them, to best meet individual and personal needs.”

Still, the recent complaints about Minot seemed to confirm the feeling many airmen already have about the base: that it’s one of the worst places to be stationed . A base of about 5,800 people around 40 miles south of the Canadian border, Minot consistently makes the list of not only the most unpopular Air Force bases, but also the most unpopular military bases writ large, and it’s had that reputation for years.

“When you look at Minot today, you find some of the oldest maintenance facilities in the Air Force,” retired general and former Air Force Chief of Staff Larry Welch told The Washington Post in 2014. “You find an extreme reluctance to accept an assignment to Minot.”

One anonymous airman currently stationed at Minot in a security forces squadron, the Air Force equivalent of military police, said that when he told his old instructor from basic training that he was selected for the base for his first assignment, the instructor said she also went there for her first assignment.

“She said ‘it’s horrible,’ however long ago that was,” said the anonymous airman, who went by the pseudonym Mike since he was not authorized to speak with the press.

Brandi Hoff, an Air Force and Army veteran, said Minot had the same reputation when she arrived there in 1996. Now a civilian, Hoff most recently served as the former program manager for the base’s True North program, an Air Force initiative to make mental health and other resources more accessible to airmen. 

“Minot has a bad reputation, and we were trying to break that stigma, but it was an uphill battle,” Hoff said.

Many critics say that the base’s isolation and harsh winters in rural North Dakota make it an unpopular assignment for young airmen away from home for the first time. However, Hoff pointed out that other Air Force bases such as F.E. Warren, in Wyoming, and Malmstrom , in Montana, are located in similar environments but without the same level of negative stigma as Minot. Why then does Minot get a bad rep where the others don’t?

The answer, according to Hoff, goes all the way up to the halls of Congress.

‘Only numbers’

As a member of the 791st Missile Security Forces squadron, Mike is charged with protecting the Minuteman III nuclear missiles sheltered in silos across the base. Minot is enormous: its missile fields cover 8,500 square miles , which is about the size of New Jersey. It can take up 1.5 to two hours to drive to some of the missile sites, often in a dilapidated Humvee without heat.

“It’s not pleasant,” Mike said. “Last winter I was training a new airman, driving out to a site an hour away. It was negative 30 degrees that day with no heat in the Humvee, a hole in the floorboard and wind coming through the floor.”

When he contacted his leadership about the issue, they said there was nothing they could do to help, Mike recalled.

“Leadership tries their best, but it’s been how many years since they’ve done the job we’re doing?” he asked.

It’s not just the length of the drives that weigh on airmen, or the temperature. It’s the frequency. Mike said that before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Air Force was trying to do better to comply with regulations limiting continuous duty time to 12 hours. But over the past two years, that regulation has gone out the window, Mike said. He himself has often worked 13 or 14-hour shifts, and other airmen at Minot have had as little as two hours to rest between shifts.

“Regs and rules only matter to leadership when it works in their favor,” Mike said, and others whose stories were posted on Facebook agreed with him. 

Leadership makes airmen “work 15+ hour shifts, then expect them to come in again the next day after only 6 hours of sleep tops, and expect them to be at the top of their game, continuously over numerous days,” wrote one poster.

“The top dogs only see [airmen] as numbers,” they added.

While sleep deprivation and fatigue are two constants of military life, a 2014 Department of Defense review of the military’s nuclear arsenal found that service members at bases hosting nuclear weapons have been stretched past their breaking point, particularly in the security forces and maintenance career fields.

“The security forces supporting the Navy and Air Force nuclear mission have experienced a constant ratcheting of requirements driven by the outcome of security exercises against highly capable and completely informed aggressor forces in high-consequence, but low-probability scenarios,” the review said. “The security forces are always on high alert, regardless of the real world threat situation, with the inevitable and logical questions about the credibility of the need for the intense daily commitment.”

That problem also extends to maintainers. Besides hosting nuclear missiles, Minot also is home to the 5th Bomber Wing, which operates nuclear-capable B-52 strategic bombers . Keeping those 60- or 70-year old aircraft ready to fly takes work, but not all of it is necessary, said one anonymous airman stationed at Minot.

“Instead of giving airmen time off, they would get sent to go pick up weeds the entire afternoon or, no bullshit, sweep rocks off the parking lot,” said the airman, who went by the pseudonym Pete since he was not authorized to speak with the press.

“I get it, you’re supposed to work, but it would get to the point where you would see [full mission capable] rates in the upper 90s month to month,” the airman said. “I’ve never seen that. Usually, if you hit 90 it’s time to take a break. You would fight for these kids to get time off after they’ve been busting their butts so hard, but that never happened here.”

Instead, they were assigned to do busy work, the airman explained. Part of the reason for the heavy work schedule was that unit leadership was stuck in outdated workflows and did not communicate why things were being done that way, the airman said.

The impression was “we aren’t going to explain to you why we are doing this,” the airman said. Constantly doing monotonous, tedious work with no direction or apparent reason was “mentally taxing,” he explained.

Posters on social media seemed to agree with the airman’s assessment. For example, one person claiming to be with the 5th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron said that “just in the past year and a half I’ve had about eight airmen just in normal conversations bring up wanting to hurt themselves,” due to “lack of time off and lack of appreciation as everyday coming into work is just another brief about how shitty we are doing.”

Being overworked and understaffed is a problem across the military, and especially among Air Force security forces and maintainers, who are widely understood as the most depressed members of the service . Data leaked to the popular Facebook page Air Force amn/nco/snco in 2020 showed a higher suicide rate among those career fields than the rest of the branch. Still, there are a number of factors that exacerbate the stress load at Minot, and it’s not just the weather.

‘Always high alert’

America’s nuclear arsenal comes in three forms: land, sea and air. Land involves ground-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, such as the Minuteman III located in silos at Minot. Sea involves Trident II D5 nuclear missiles launched from the Navy’s 14 Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines. And air involves Air Force B-52 and B-2 bombers , both of which can carry nuclear weapons. 

Minot is the only base in the country that hosts two legs of the nuclear triad: ICBMs and B-52 bombers. As such, the challenges faced at other nuclear bases, such as not enough support, increased security demands, and high-alert status, are intensified, according to the 2014 report . 

“It’s always high-alert,” said Brandi Hoff, the former True North program manager. “You don’t get lead time if something bad happens.”

That responsibility would be difficult in any location, but in frigid North Dakota the challenges are “unparalleled,” the 2014 report said. Weather conditions make travel to and from the ICBM facilities more difficult and time-consuming; equipment breaks faster, transport vehicles fail more frequently, and aircraft need more time for maintenance. On top of that, the base is isolated. The nearest city has about 50,000 residents, many of whom work in the oil and gas industry. The weather and isolation limit the support and infrastructure available for the base, and it also makes living there more difficult for airmen.

“There’s absolutely nothing to do” unless you’re into hunting or ice fishing, Pete said.

“I feel bad for those kids here who are 21 … when you look at it, drinking is the only thing to do downtown, it’s all bars,” he added. “You can only go to the mall so many times in a month … and six to eight months out of the year, it’s cold,” as in negative 20 degrees or more.

The isolation also makes it expensive to leave the base for a break.

“An airline ticket out is $1,000 … who can afford that? And a lot of these kids don’t come from money,” said Hoff. “It’s expensive to fly home, so people don’t get a chance to decompress, and it’s not like you can drive to a lot of places.”

Too much work, cold weather and isolation would drive anyone a little stir-crazy. But in addition, unit supervisors are often not sympathetic towards their airmen’s attempts to seek mental health help, sources said. The problem is more pronounced at Minot due to the base’s nuclear mission. Nuclear-equipped bases often have a personnel reliability program, or PRP, which is supposed to ensure that service members are mentally and physically fit to work around nuclear weapons. However, the tool has become an unrealistically high bar that makes more airmen unfit for duty than not, according to the 2014 review.

For example, “an eye appointment is reason for temporary suspension because the eye exam may include dilating the eyes creating temporary sensitivity to light,” wrote the review, which called PRP “enormously wasteful.” 

The high PRP standard also leads to commanders second-guessing their subordinates’ requests to seek mental health help, as it could temporarily take them off duty. The fear is “that people who want to avoid alert or watch duty or security force operations can simply declare they are ‘stressed,’ earning them a suspension from PRP and therefore relief from difficult duties,” the report said.

While the Air Force worked to improve PRP after the 2014 review, Hoff said it’s still had a detrimental effect to airmen at Minot. Mental health help is even more discouraged in security forces because it can quickly put such airmen on ‘do not arm’ status, where they cannot bear weapons and thus cannot do their jobs. Mike, the security forces airman, knows that challenge personally. When he was off-duty for mental health help, he had repeated meetings where his leadership pressured him to declare himself fit for duty so he could arm back up. It got to the point where “I wouldn’t talk to him without a peer or a mental health representative with me,” Mike said.

The airman estimated he knew of about two dozen colleagues who had a similar experience. For example, he said one woman who asked for personal time to recover from a death in her family “was told no and that if she tried again she would be given paperwork for malingering,” he said.

“And that’s just in our squadron,” he clarified.

‘Somebody doesn’t give a shit’

Across the Air Force, staffing is so low, Hoff explained, that from her perspective 80 percent staffing has become the new 100 percent. But the percentage suffers further from additional factors like sick time, maternity leave, deployments, and people out due to PRP, for example. 

“So mostly it’s just 50% of the people doing 100% of the work,” Hoff said. “We’re at a base with two thirds of the triad, so you’d think they’d be adequately manned not to do this to our people and these guys would not be pulling 12 hour shifts six days a week.”

Instead, commanders have to lean on their people to put out that much work. Commanders can’t say “we can’t protect that nuke today because someone is out sick,” Hoff said, so it’s up to Congress to provide more support and manpower, she explained.

“Somebody doesn’t give a shit about the nuclear mission or the people, and I guarantee you it’s not the mission,” Hoff said.

Some more consideration for mental health would not hurt either, said Mike. When asked what he would change first about Minot, he said he “would change how leadership treats those who go through mental help. If that were better, more people would seek help and we’d have less suicides and less attempted suicides.”

The entire military is dealing with a suicide crisis without a clear solution. At Minot, one airman died by suicide this past New Year’s Eve, and another took their own life later in January. One common complaint across many of the stories posted on Facebook was a lack of basewide conversation about mental health in the wake of those deaths.

“It seemed to all of us like leadership was just trying to sweep it under the rug,” said Mike. “There was no talk about mental health or anything. The only time we talk about mental health awareness is when it’s mandated by the military, and even then we just do PT or ruck marches.”

Even if there were less of a stigma surrounding mental health, it would be a challenge to find enough mental health care providers to match the need. Hoff said that her providers at True North were swamped, especially as the program became more popular at Minot. Mike was one participant at True North, and while he gained a lot from the program, he could only meet with his provider once a month due to the large number of airmen seeking help.

“They didn’t have enough technicians to help,” he said.

‘Never had better’

Not everyone had a negative view of their time at Minot. Search for “Minot” on any social media forum such as the unofficial Air Force subreddit and you will find both people who enjoyed their time at the base as well as people who could not wait to leave. Even among the 15 people whose stories were posted to Air Force amn/nco/snco, there was one who enjoyed their time at the base.

“I have never had better leadership at the group and squadron level … they make sure you have PTO and family days when you’re not in the field,” said one purported former member of the 91st Security Forces Group. “Leadership visits often during trips out. They have a whole group of NCOs and officers dedicated to defender culture. They do not treat members who are down with pity or disrespect.”

Another member of the 791st security forces squadron told Task & Purpose that in many ways, Minot is better than the previous bases she’s served at. There are long hours and tough physical labor, she said, but many younger airmen can’t handle it because they are more entitled than their predecessors.

“We know at one point we’re going to leave, and everywhere you go the grass is not always greener,” she said.

The airman acknowledged that there are no doubt some “bad apples” in each unit, as there are in all units, but that’s not enough to judge the entire unit. Still, she empathized with some of the Facebook writers who said they were bullied or ostracized because they were women or because they were pregnant.

“I’ve been in that position: pregnant and people don’t care about me,” she said. Like many parents across the military, she wished Minot had free child care , because child care costs there are nearly unaffordable, she said.

No matter what the future holds for Minot, Hoff hopes someone gets more bodies on that base.

“80% does not hack it,” she said. “Not at a two-thirds nuclear triad base.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the time it takes to drive to missile sites at Minot.

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David covered the Air Force, Space Force, and anything Star Wars-related for Task & Purpose from 2019 to 2023. He previously covered local news in Maine and FDA policy in Washington D.C. David loves hearing the stories of individual airmen and their families and sharing the human side of America’s most tech-heavy military branch. Contact the author here.

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Air Force Cadet Reacts to Being Assigned to Minot Air Force Base

Earlier this week, the world waited with bated breath as Airman Callie Green – a.k.a. @calliegreenn – took to TikTok, recording her reaction to learning her Air Force Assignment.

Yet instead of the cheers, tears, and sense of pride often signature of these types of viral clips, Green’s reaction was anything but.

“No!” she exclaimed at the beginning of the clip, which has since amassed upwards of 1.1 million likes. “No, no,” she continued, pushing her chair back,” before remarking that she was “not at all” okay with her base.

@calliegreenn finding out our assignments ♬ original sound - Callie Green

Though Green remained tight-lipped on the specifics of her assignment, it seems she didn’t need to – based on her reaction and her reaction alone, the sleuths of military TikTok deduced she had been stationed at the Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, infamous for its terrible weather, remote location and evidently lax approach to nuclear safety .

“I know a Minot assignment when I see one,” wrote  @princessmeeeow in a comment that has since garnered upwards of 21,000 upvotes. “My poor brother was in North Dakota first- most miserable time of his life,” added @girlyturdsx.

“Before I even watched the whole thing I thought ‘Why not Minot,’” joked @perfectbloomdesign, referencing the notorious base’s unofficial slogan.

Yet these commenters are far from alone in their apparent disdain for Minot. Ranked among Military.com’s five worst bases, the outlet slamming the locale as a “prime destination for career-ending mishaps,” which have famously included “ misplaced nuclear weapons to security forces losing grenades ,” Minot has a less-than-stellar reputation, one the base’s personnel have attempted to discredit over the years.

“The bad stories you hear about Minot are from people who have never been here,” said Col Menuey in a 2021 blog post about the base, later describing the locale as “a great base, with a great mission.”

Col Meuney, if you’re reading this, do an Aileron Roll if you need help. 

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Lawmakers press committees to reject air force proposal.

North Dakota’s senators have joined colleagues in opposition to an Air Force proposal that would transfer U.S. National Guard units executing space missions to the U.S. Space Force.

Sens. John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer, both R-ND, signed onto a letter led by Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, both D-Colo., and Congressman Jason Crow, D-Colo., calling on the U.S. Senate and House Armed Service Committees to reject the proposal from the intended for the fiscal year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act. They say the proposal would ignore precedent and renounce governor approval.

“We write regarding a deeply flawed legislative proposal put forward by the U.S. Air Force that would undermine our National Guard system,” wrote the lawmakers. “The original intent of the National Guard was to have a force ready to respond to the needs of their state and country. Because of this, authority was placed in the hands of each state’s individual governor. This is more than a matter of governance; governors bear the responsibility to protect the safety of their citizens by maintaining the readiness and deployability of their National Guard units.

“Congress has a duty to maintain the integrity and longstanding tradition of the National Guard, and a proposal of this magnitude threatens to undo over 120 years of precedent,” concluded the lawmakers. “We recognize the Air Force is evolving to address future threats, but there are other options available to the Air Force to accomplish this evolution that don’t undo an important foundation of our state National Guard system established by Congress.”

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Trending topics, approximately 30 percent of sailors remain in same area following new billet assignment, cnp says.

Three in 10 sailors did not have to move due to their new billet assignments, the head of naval personnel said Wednesday.

As a result of changes to billet assignments, such as the detailing marketplace assignment policy , sailors are able to stay in the same geographic area longer, Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Adm. Richard Cheeseman said Wednesday during a Navy Memorial talk. The detailing marketplace assignment policy is the Navy’s billet-based advancement program that aims to give sailors more control over their promotions and next assignments.

While 30 percent does not come across as particularly high, Cheeseman said it is for the sea service. Retired Rear Adm. Frank Thorp, president of the U.S. Navy Memorial, said he remembered during his service that the rate was less than 1 percent. When people got new assignments, they expected to move.

Consistent geographic location is one way the Navy is working to retain sailors. Cheeseman noted that the service is on track to meet its goals for retention. For some sailors, especially those with families, the chance to stay in the same location can be enough of an incentive to keep them in the service.

Selected reenlistment bonuses are another tactic, he said. In some cases, the Navy has done so well at retention that it does not need to offer retention bonuses for some billets, he said.

“But you got to figure out where to take risk. Can we have some really critical skills that we’re going to need now and going forward? So how do we incentivize those folks correctly?” Cheeseman asked rhetorically.

But while the Navy can retain sailors, getting them in the door is a different issue, Cheeseman said.

It’s unlikely that the Navy will meet its recruiting mission, which set a goal of 40,600 sailors for Fiscal Year 2024, Cheeseman said. The Navy’s goal is higher than its one in Fiscal Year 2023, which the service also missed.

But the Navy saw more contracts in FY 2023 than in FY 2022 despite meeting its goal in FY 2022. In order to meet its recruiting goals, the Navy drained its delayed entry program – the group of people who sign contracts but are not immediately sent to bootcamp, Cheeseman said.

Without the buffer provided by the delayed entry program, the service needs to bring in more people to meet its goal, the personnel chief said.

While the Navy is likely to miss its recruitment goal, the service is slowly closing the gap. Earlier in the year, the service estimated it would miss the mark by 6,700 sailors. Now, it’s at 6,200.

How many sailors the Navy will be short is still unclear, Cheeseman said, but recruiters are working every day to close the gap.

Heather Mongilio

Heather Mongilio is a reporter with USNI News. She has a master’s degree in science journalism and has covered local courts, crime, health, military affairs and the Naval Academy. Follow @hmongilio

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