I think the HAM operators used to send messages for us from our duty station (mine was Hawaii) to anyone in the country.
...and I really know nothing of them.
BUT...the National Guard has pretty good radio communications for use in a State “in case of emergency” too.
Yeah. Actually, Hams and MARS stations. MARS stations are actually Ham Radio operators with two licenses, one to operate Amateur Radio in their bands and one to operate within military bands providing health and welfare traffic (and phone calls home over HF etc).
Yes, Guard units indeed DO have good communications systems. I was NCOIC of a communications flight here in Colorado with HF, UHF, VHF and computer systems setups that were deployable in many circumstances, and could (and HAVE) been used in emergency communications.
However, MOST Guard units are small, and there are very few of them.