I'm active USAF cyber and am thinking of going into the Air National Guard after my ETS. What's your experience at your base/unit?

Well, that all depends on what unit you aim for. There are flying wings, combat communications squadrons, air control squadrons, isolated Air National Guard stations, units assigned to active duty bases to include other services, etc. Each unit has its own culture and it can take awhile to get promoted above SSgt since promotions are by slot. You have both AGR and Air Technicians as full time staff. You’re asking from a 50,000 foot view. What specific questions do you have and which state are you going to?

My experience in the Guard was generally very good. However, everything is unit specific. I had a knucklehead CMSgt that either liked you or hated you. He liked me so I was ok, but he hated one of my friends in the unit and made his life miserable. There are those types everywhere and the Guard is no exception. I would talk to the specific squadron you would be assigned to and get a sense of how things are.

The other thing to remember is that the Guard has a much more laid back mentality than the AD side. AFI’s are often times more like a guideline than the rule. I enjoyed that culture, but some folks do not.

Take the time to do the research before you commit to anything. It will be worth it.

if you are trying to be closer to home and family, I say do it. You will spend most of your time doing computer based training and never ending tasks during your drill weekends. I will say this, drill weekends always seem to fall on the weekends everything is planned.
with your active points though if you do 20 and retire you will have a nice extra paycheck when that time comes to draw on it.
I've never regretted the Guard. whenever I get sick of the everyday life of groundhogs day I put in for a deployment and break up with my civilian life for a while. when I return home everyone is so happy to see me and its a nice fresh restart.
I ALWAYS deploy during the holidays, it makes for a faster deployment and a nice bonus on my pocketbook.