We need to get away from the idea the reserves are first line units. The simple truth is this. I am a former Army National Guard. I was assigned to a Howitzer Battery as an ammunition hauler.
I was allowed to join due to my Navy service. In my four years in the Navy I touched one .22 caliber rifle at boot camp for one hour and not another was touched. So I joined a combat unit of the National Guard and was handed an M-16. This is not a good situation. Yet these very same type units are being used for deployments overseas. These well intended warriors are at this stage not a help but someone else for the more trained combat units to have to look out after.
There should be enough trained active duty to be deployed on short notice while the reserves get some active duty workups in the states. This could take as much as 6 months. Right now we lack that luxury and have so since Reagan left office and the tearing down of the military actually started. The Gulf War showed us that much.
I understand and agree with your point wholeheartedly about the gutting of our armed forces. Many responsibilities that have traditionally rested on active duty forces's shoulders, have shifted onto the Reserve component's shoulders. It's a little bit like the way the gubmint juggles the fiscal "books". Rob Peter to pay Paul.