Quite a bit of change, and not that long ago, from the days when I used to use one of these:
The one in the front was the compact model. We did not have phone style mike/speaker combinations. The microphone was round and needed to be placed with the screen up so that the spring loaded switch underneath is rack could rise up, turning on the radio. When you turned the mike down it pushed the on/off switch down, against the resistance of the spring, turning the radio off.
Ours were painted tan over grey, standard Motorola colors. Our larger model was likely bigger than the rear radio in the picture. The mikes presented frequent maintenance problems. They would stick on transmit, leading to some interesting listening and infamous situations. When I spotted my first fire while alone and on patrol I pressed the mike button the button and spring were launched out the window. I had the fire out before units responding to a report by a passing motorist on I-40 arrived.
The Coconino National Forest had better equipment (engines, patrols, and radios) and had a newer model Motorola that was all dark grey. The mikes were square and far more reliable. They had handhelds before we did. The Kaibab National Forest radio system had to be upgraded when batteries could not be found for the old packsets. Instead of getting handhelds like the Coconino, on the Kaibab we were issued smaller packsets made by a company other than Motorola. The upgrades to the two remote base/repeaters on the Forest were minimal. The repeaters worked worse than they had been before the upgrades.
When I arrived on the Cibola National Forest in New Mexico we had a limited number of handhelds. A year before I left there the radio system was being replaced with a state of the art, circa 1980, system. My next Forest, the Toiyabe had an ancient radio system that was being upgraded the last year I was there. Then it was on to the Inyo and just after I retired the radio system was being upgraded when Bush's terrible outsourcing program resulted in the Forest Service radio techs positions being eliminated, and replaced with a much higher cost contractor who is incompetent. The great features of the new system were never built. My timing for working with new radio systems was very poor.
Talk about hijacking a thread!
By the way it does not seem very long to me either, but then I realize that I graduated from college nearly 34 years ago (1975). Then I subtract 34 from 1975 and realize that at the time of my graduation people who were my age then had graduated in 1941 about 6 months before Pearl Harbor. That calculation makes me feel my age, but I still can't figure out how I've reached it so quickly.
