Welcome Fred!
It's not the cost of the effort as much as the increasing idiocy of some of the people who cause the problems. Personally, I find it very irritating that so many people put themselves in situations with absolutely no thought or planning or even recognition that it could be dangerous. As long as they have their cell phone, they think they have everything covered.
Yes, there are a lot of idiots in the world, and yes, as a volunteer SAR person I sometimes find it irritating.
Yet at the same time, here on the "equipped" forum, I've seen a lot of comments about the advisability of carrying a PLB, SPOT, EPIRB, cell or sat phone. But relatively little discussion about when it is appropriate to use these devices, and when one should attempt to self rescue. As prep people we need to make sure we have our own (glass?) house in order before throwing too many stones.
In any case, the overall cost to the public of these rescues is often much less than many think. As has been pointed out, the military folks get paid whether they are flying contrived training missions or real life SAR missions. The bulk of the 'boots on the ground' for SAR are volunteers. We do it for free, because we want to, and we buy our own personal gear. In many cases, we raise money to buy group rescue gear. A few expensive high profile SAR missions get a lot of publicity, but the bulk of SAR work is a bargain for the public.
While I do find the idiots annoying, I believe education is the best approach.
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