I am a reservist, but have many, many Guard friends, and I can tell you the VERY first thing they want to hear at a hiring board is how you have always wanted to live in their city and were hugely upset with your mom for not giving birth to you in their great state. All kidding aside, it is my observation that units want to hire locals. The few units I interviewed with(ANG and AFRES) before getting my current gig, were VERY interested in my settling down in their area. Now that is not to say there are guys that commute in, but they have been on those units a long time, and is also not to say it is impossible to get hired as a nonlocal, I know of one or two guys out there, but they had awesome connections in the unit.

As for full-time orders after UPT, most units will put you on "seasoning orders" for one year. That may vary from unit to unit as budgets vary.

Transferring guards units happens, although I would not mention that as an option for you when you interview. Guys move around to follow a change in their airline base or just want to move, but you want to walk in the door with the attitude of "I have been wanting to live in your city my whole life."