To answer the actual question, the manning's not bad right now. It's actually a good time to be a copilot (it's always been a good time to be a nav, FE or load) and forecast to get better (you know, because the legacy Herk is dying, so why make new copilots?). That being said, follow on assignments are a crapshoot right now, so if you can hold on, get a J (good f-ing luck) and come back in a few years, I'm sure the assignment will look great again at any angle.
My guess is, if anything, we'll get even shorter-manned in all crew positions as time goes on, being that the 36th will be the last active duty H squadron by a few years and nobody wants to stick around and find out what assignments are left at the very end.