Yes, I believe I would too. Clearly, the privileged and the well-connected used those connections to get cushy reserve billets when they had high draft numbers. Be that as it may, there's nothing that kept the DOD from activating those troopers. As such, it's not really their fault they weren't activated. They certainly could have been.
In today's military, the Reserves and Guard components are so vital to the larger capabilities, it's almost impossible that every Reservist or Guardsman doesn't serve the requisite 180 days during any point in their 4-8 year contract. It's a bit of moot point, today.
I was a navy reserve hospital corpsman, in a marine infantry battalion, in April 2004, and my unit was activated for 13 months. I was near Baghdad, in the Triangle of Death, Sept. 2004-Mar. ‘05. While I was there, I read that 24% of the active duty military had been deployed to the Middle East and that 27% of reserve and national guard members had been deployed to the Middle East.
As a reservist after 2002, I served 3 different 179 day deployments. They were careful to keep it under the limit.
I had 4 years active as well, back in the '80s. So I'm covered.
A reservist that wore the uniform and has an honorable discharge, I consider a veteran, whether they did 180 days active or not. Whether they are eligible for benefits, is another story.
/johnny