The lack of *relevant* citations in this article make it effectively meaningless. National Guard units have been actively involved in recent combat actions since Gulf War I under George H.W. Bush. To do so they have been put under federal command.
In fact, part of the 10th Amendment Movement is that in several states, they are so tired of their Guard being perpetually deployed that they want it returned. If the US military needs more personnel, it should hire more personnel, not loot the states for hot bodies.
But there is nothing new about this, other than Obama, at the request of the Pentagon, named the national commander of the National Guard to the Joint Chiefs. With the end of the Iraq and Afghanistan occupations, he will spend most of his time with TRADOC, just making sure that the NG are standardized and functional nationwide. No easy task.
As I recall the history, when we went to an all volunteer force in the post-VietNam era, and placed increasing reliance on the USAR and ARNG, it was primarily the governors who were insistent on keeping the ARNG as combat arms unit (Infantry/Armor/Artillery etc.) and leaving the combat support and service support units in the Reserves. I think it had something to do with the funding attached.