If you signed up as a journalist (and you do sign up for a specific job, not just as a soldier who gets assigned something random) before 9/11, you totally do not expect to end up as a truck driver, which is currently the most combat and casualty heavy job, besides being a Marine. So, yeah, I think she has a legitimate beef.
And trust me, the "benefits" aren't that great. They are for people who have NOTHING, and that's usually who signs up. The $300 a month I get for Drill does not begin make up for the time I spend away from my family and the extra time I spend every week on Guard duties. And I'm an officer--an enlisted person would get maybe $120 a drill.
And yeah, the National Guard's mission should be Homeland Security. In fact, you know what, it is, but we've also got to fight the other wars, too. So, we get sent to Katrina Relief AS WELL AS Iraq--but it's not a stressor, really it isn't. [/sarcasm]
-Sarah F. who is proud to serve but can see both sides of the argument.