I retired in 2013 but saw some real advances in technology and also some hard headed ideas get pushed aside. There were open cabs and riding on tailboards on old brush rigs. Air conditioned cabs and automatic transmissions. I took my engineers exam in a double clutchin', mutha fuggin Pierce Arrow open cab. Our paramedic rigs got air conditioning in 1997, I became a PM in 1984. There were chiefs that thought AC would distract PM's and didn't want to order them with AC. SCBAs became lighter and more efficient. We learned a lot more about the science of fire behavior. After 911 we got into mass casualty incident control including mass decontamination and all the terrorism crap. We were issued body armor.
For better or not, our wages climbed substantially. Where this was a negative is that we would all get together and build walls or patios or paint a house or help do a valve job or clutch job. The better wages moved people into the ability to pay someone else to do it. It kind of diminished the team concept. This kind of tied in to the PC culture that got to us. Our dorms went from gladiator style barracks to private cubicles. People would put a TV in and then go hide in the evenings. I had to take a class in dealing with Gen X, I felt that they should keep their heads down and their pie holes shut while they were on probation and thank God out loud everyday for the the job they were fortunate to have. Some bitch from HR gave the class on sexual harassment and said if accused we would be going down. Everything became racial. You couldn't even fart out loud at the end. I never dealt with HR for almost 30 years. In the end I was in the "principles office" 3 times and retired as a subject of investigation. It was sad to contrast my early career enthusiasm with how bad I wanted out at the end.
BINGO!! I'm at that exact crossroad in my career. These new millennials are something else. Camaraderie doesn't exist like it used to. Sad,,,,, teamwork.....what's that??
