My brother in law was in the National Guard from 1970 to 1987. In 1986 his wife got breat cancer and their youngest child was only a baby.

They let him take some time off and after her death my mother in law went to live with the family so that he coould time and make up meetings and get the points he needed for a discharge.

Gale was in the Guard from 1968 to 1976. He did not make a lof the meetings the last year because he had accumulated a lot when his unit was out on high alert. He said that the idea was to get the points. If you had the points one way or another you had met your obligation. He thinks this whole discussion is stupid.