This is simply not true. See the original post. The earlier equivalent provisions were posted in the thread. Substantively, they're the same on reservists being involuntarily separated honorably.
Agreed, general discharges and OTHs for involuntary separations, from AD, in the Army, are the rule; but not necessarily during the 70s drawdown, from standby reserve status, or in the Navy. This is why I'd like to track down the regs that were in effect at the time.
To see about the hypothesized 1972 DD214, I called the Navy's FOIA manager this morning, and she told me (a) there wouldn't have been a DD214 because he was released from inactive reserve status in 1972, and (b) discharge papers are exempt from FOIA due to privacy concerns, including any info about discharge characterization. Weird, but okay.
However, the question remains: what is that 1978 memo all about? Why does it exist?