One needs to remember that in most other countries, some sort of SAR Insurance is required to play on their hills. That in fact is a mandate.
When I flew SAR & CSAR, over six years and 2800+ hours worth (USN out of NAS Lemoore which fully supported YOSAR and McMurdo which fully supported NSFA and HCS-5 in Somalia) in the 70's, 80's and early 90's, the amount of people in the hills or out in the field was no where what it is today. Maybe 1/100th of what I see today. Most SAR call outs then were totally legit and necessary.
The last ten or so years, I have been involved in assisting some two dozen SAR call outs in the INYO National Forrest area and 60 or so % of those were just plain not required.
Also, more and more people are heading up into the mountains that have absolutely no business being there. Fact. Self-Reliance/Rescue is not a game requirement these days. Only a cell phone or a SPOT device is.
I agree 100% with DOW all based on today's legit SAR statistics.
BTW, we never had the luxury of hanging out and eating donuts at the CP, regardless the time of day or night. We were too busy searching/operating. That must be the difference between Military SAR Ops and Civilian Volunteers.