Sue, I don't know about "the increasing idiocy" thing. There were plenty of frivolous or (in hindsight) unnecessary operations back in the 60s or 70s. They just didn't usually receive as much publicity and notice as nowadays.

The thing is, you simply do not know at the beginning of an operation whether it will be frivolous or not. There are unfortunate instances where SAR people decided on a slow response and it turned out to be a bad decision.

It is true that SAR people have died on operations. Does it make any difference whether the operation was required or not? One is just as dead. And, yes, as a matter of fact, I have attended the funerals of SAR people who died in the line of duty.

Please remember that really blatant misuse of SAR can result in costs to the party requesting rescue. There was a case just last week at Grand Teton NP where people were presented with a bill. These situations are fortunately very rare.