Does anyone have insight on what it's like to be a pilot in the National Guard and/or a pilot in the Reserves? Which is better and why?

Not aviation but in the PA ARNG. As an infantry grunt I've worked with them on a few occasions and they are great soldiers and aviators. They also have great training facilities and the facilities at Ft Indiantown Gap outside Harrisburg is one of, if not, the business heliports in the NE. I have a buddy in the IL ARNG guard UH-60 pilot and he likes it alot too. Guard is a pretty solid way to go

If you want to be FW, then USAR is definitely a better choice than ARNG. If you want to be RW, I'm not too sure... I would imagine they are similar, but I would defer to someone that knows more.

Not sure where you live, I assume PA, you can check with the 11th Aviation command, if it flies in the Reserves they control it and see where they have a unit close to you. I know when I was in they had a unit in Virginia, North Carolina, Texas and the command and two flight groups one was combat one was medical not sure if that one is still apache, I thought they took apaches out of the reserves and switched them all to Black Hawks etc. But the command and some flight units are at Ft. Knox next to the air field/