I do the guard thing at ADW and still live in DC and commute up to EWR. From the DC the commute is easy because I can always drive it if need be (about 3.5 hours 4 in traffic) or take the train. At least living here with those options everything is commutable. So yeah, live in one or the other (in base or with guard reserve). On a side note, I have heard that RDU is one of the tougher commutes to EWR. I flew with a guy recently who commutes out of there. He has had to drive it on occasion (about 7 hours). Just keep that in your hip pocket.