WHY THEY DIDN'T BARGAIN FOR IT
My brother served several years in the Marines, so on the internal workings of the military, I tend to defer to him. He responded to my essay "...more than they bargained for" as follows:

The issue regarding the National Reserves has been an ongoing issue since the military downsizing that started post-Gulf War I. Usually the Guard worked w/domestic police actions in national emergencies cases like natural disasters or the annual riots that grip LA whenever one of their teams win a World Championship. The Guardsmen are usually part-timers but can be called to active duty at the governor/president's prerogative. They like everyone else like to at least know how long their mission...or at least their deployment is going to be. I think the frustration comes where you're told that you'll be deployed for 3 months only to find that 8 months later you're still sucking sand in a land where people don't want you there. Now a POSSIBLE solution to this is cut down the expense on the number of "smart-weapons" & invest them in more active duty troops, thereby reducing the need to constantly callup the Guardsmen. The troops, Guardsmen & active duty personnel, are more than happy to do their mission but only want our elected officials to be straight w/ them. Despite what they may think, we are big boys & girls. We can handle the truth.