Actually the article says outright that the Reserve and Guard units responded faster than the active ones, and were less bogged down by regulations (can you say, "CYA," the golden objective of today's officers and NCOs?)
Since the 1960s most of the burden of continental air defence has been carried by the Air National Guard. Clinton was a disaster for the military, but in this particular case he, and the Guard, are innocent.
It takes longer to load missiles than guns because of (1) differing storage requirements and (2) more complex load/handling procedures. And that difference is the same regardless of how many days a year the crewmen serve on duty. When the officer quoted the responce times of The Boys from Syracuse (as they were known pre-PC), he was actually praising them.
By the way, it takes a Russian air defence unit longer to load missiles than guns,and longer to load radar-guided missiles than simple heat-seekers. And I guarantee that they can't upload and launch planes in 10, 30 and 60 minutes for guns, heat-seekers, and radar-homing missiles.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F