Perhaps a better organization would be to give the different components different regional focuses (foci?). National Guard units would prepare for the least likely areas of interest. Active units would prepare for deployments to more likely theaters. This would involve soldiers and officers in understanding language, history and culture and how it impacts military operations (at high and low intensities). By splitting the world up into regions, we'd have a good base of working knowledge for pretty much anywhere a conflict could arise. Reserve components would probably end up saddled with the job of knowing and teaching this stuff to the active guys - which requires more experience and less equipment.

So, a national guard unit might have a focus on South Africa. The politically correct way to go about it is as an exercise in reinforcing a possible ally (rather than toppling a possible target). Another might draw the Congo. Studying likely missions, knowing ethnic groups, following the news, etc. would be part of everyday unit training. Even if we don't want to deploy a full sized 'Guard unit to the middle of wherever for some peacekeeping job, it'd be handy to have the active guys look at their files and borrow some staff officers.

Obviously, some theaters pose REAL issues for how you do this delicately. China, for example, and Iran, for another, would not be happy to hear we had units studying their language and working on how to fight in their country. Of course, we could point out that we're preparing units to DEPLOY anywhere in the world - they might be conducting humanitarian relief or a scientific expedition. It would probably settle the PRC's nerves if we also pointed out that it was only an understrength unit of the Nebraska National Guard that drew the unfortunate duty of learning Mandarin phrases and studying all fifty centuries of history . . .

I think a setup like this would also enable the unit commanders to decide their own force mix. For example, the Brigade which draws Libya will want to be set up with a heavy mix due to the terrain there, while the guys who get the Congo may want a lighter mix more suitable for air deployment and dealing with the lower technology involved there. Also, special units like MPs, engineers and civil affairs might be more rationally apportioned - or unit commanders might provide their soldiers with extra training to cover the shortfall.

Language, culture, history and current events can be a tremendous asset to a military unit. However, there's far too much of it to expect our combat commanders to know it all. Splitting the work up among different units should give a good head start. In the event of a major operation involving multiple brigades, having one ready to go will at least give the other units fair warning on what to expect.