Is this an action that comes in addition to a move or attack action in the unit phase, or does it count against the 2 potential actions of a non-suppressed unit?

yakmandoo said:

It counts as one action. If you're not suppressed or have a reaction marker, you could still take one other action too during the unit phase.

Thanks.

felkor said:

we tend to use the Reload action in the Command Phase.

Reloading in the Command Phase is possible, but you must issue the unit a Take Action order to do so, which requires being in range to receive the order, and get a Reaction marker.

It is probably better to just wait until the Unit Phase; Take Action orders are costly (due to the Reaction marker), and should be used only when necessary. There is no benefit to reloading in the command phase.