When is it appropriate to get Congress involved with a dysfunctional unit? Is the Inspector General appropriate to use instead?

Is RP trying to out do the Comedy Channel? This is better than Duffelblog.

PFC. Congress is the very last place to go. The brass soes't like it and you should follow the chain of command always. A Congressman investigating a complain like yours isn't much help. As a 1st SGT I was turned in to Congress once and during the investigation a full COL came and saw me. Our meeting took long enought for me to find a piece of paperwork and give him. However the military will have a ready answer to whatever you write. And they will not forget.

A Reserve Component is not obligated in any way to grant a conditional release to anyone to go active duty. The fact of the matter is that you and your buddy are under an enlistment contract with the Army Reserve. They have funded the training to make you MOS qualified and fill a vacancy in their unit. You would expect them to honor their end of the contract. They are holding you to yours. Conditional Releases to go active duty are usually considered under extreme cases of hardship. If it is just a case of you regretting your initial decision to go "part-time", then sorry, needs of the Army Reserve and your unit will always come first. Should have thought that through before you enlisted for the Reserves. A Congressional complaint on why you don't want to fulfil the obligations and term of enlistment in your contract isn't going to get you anywhere. Keep trying with your chain of command, don't get me wrong. Just understand that they don't owe it to you to release you to go active duty.