Yes they do. That's a fact...not conjecture.
And yes...there are airborne units in the Guard...the 19th and 20th Special Forces Group. There are also SOWT airborne uints across various states. And YES...they do the same job for less cost.
And don't erect a straw man by saying they couldn't replace the 82nd within days or a years notice. That's a false premise. If the structure was set up so that the 82nd HAD NGB assets...they would do that job for less.
It's the same as saying "I'd like to the see the guard get a nuke submarine on patrol in a year" when they don't have them to begin with. IF you created that structure...it wouldn't be a problem. You can't compare a crate of apples to an empty crate.
Ask those on active duty. The guard isn't the guard you think of in 1975. It's different now....and suffice it to say...the active duty (especially the air force and army) would have been up the creek since the 90's if it wasn't for the guard...and quite simply...you get more bang for the buck. That's not opinion...that Pentagon admission.
I was in a Special Operations, Guard unit, I know about them and the 19th, and the resurrected 143rd, and the 151st in Vietnam etc, far better than most, tiny units of almost all prior service and super motivated individuals do a LOT of private training to maintain their status, some of their members will fly in from states across the country to be in the highly coveted slots.
The 82nd has, or has had NG uits assigned to it, such as the Texas 36th NG before it first switched to a Ranger LRRP unit in the 1980s.
The Guard can’t maintain an active level in many areas, such as maintaining an 82nd Airborne division.
Most of us would not want to run the 82nd on a two day a month training basis with two weeks in the summer to really bring the entire Division totally up to snuff.
The 21st century American war machine cannot be entirely run on two days a month part timers who want to serve as back up and as a reserve man power pool, not as constantly deployed active duty.
What do you think the NG would look like a couple of decades after closing down the active military, what do you think our foreign policy decisions would come to look like if every large military operation required removing huge swaths of civilian workers and management from the economy and towns and states?