Reading all the way to the last paragraph will provide clarity for those who are unaware of how the missile officers have a dead-end career. It’s even much more so today than it was 50 years ago since the force has been concentrated to ND, WY, and MT. That’s not going to engender happy feelings from spouses with that limited mix of station locations. Some love those locations - I have a retired AF E-9 (non-missile) cousin that chose to stay in Cheyenne on retirement.
Thirty years ago...I knew an intel officer (three years in), who selected the missile officer field for four years. I asked him the logic. The AF was going to cover majority of his master’s degree cost, and then he’d move onto a PhD. As a missile officer, he had to stay on-site for the twenty-four shift, but there was barely three hours of real work...so he had tons of time to do homework and study for the tests. His plan was to wrap up the four years....do a one-year tour somewhere for the Air Force, and get out.
I bumped into an NCO who was a site-manager for sixteen years, and did his one-and-only overseas tour to Germany....to retire at the end of that tour. He only moved five times in his entire career, to include basic training.
There are advantages to the situation. But all of these sites are at the ‘end-of-the-Earth’, and you really have to enjoy spending four to six years in a pretty rural environment.