Hello all. This is an interesting thread if you sort out the BS from both extremes. I was very active in MARS for several years, and was the virtual beaming faced new guy that thoroughly enjoyed the structure and comradery offered by MARS. Sorry if this gets long, but I think it is important you gain all perspectives. I did 21 years in the Marines (71-92) and saw MARS do wonderful stuff for the Marines, to include shipboard MARS.
After retiring I got back into Ham Radio after a 20 year absence. I jumped in with both feet and eventually joined MARS to give something back. After the initial learning curve and great encouragement from the other folks, I was regularly running traffic nets and doing COMMO via PACTOR daily and distributing to the net by AMTOR. At this time digital was the up and coming mode due to noise rejection offered by the ARQ modes. Our net functioned primarily via SSB on 80M and I still get chills from the summer months trying to work 3-400 miles away. I was the youngster of the group, and tried to incorporate training on different digital modes. Folks were less than enthusiastic, and the "new fangled tech syndrome set in." For me the resistance to change was the number one reason my interest waned.
Don't get me wrong, while frustrated with several aspects of MARS, I continued to enjoy the comradery between the folks. This was the period in which MARS seemed to be wondering through the wilderness. I am sure there have been a lot of good changes of the past 3 years or so that I have been out of MARS. I often invited other Ham friends into the shack so they could hear how a real directed net operated compared to their ARES push and talk 2-M sessions. Pride is a good word.
I am rambling now, so I will shut up, but I guess my point is that the quality and professionalism of MARS operators will always rise above the bureaucracy and chaos often associated with HF radio communication. No one is in it for the pay (well a few maybe). As with any technology, change will come and it needs to be embraced.
Semper Fi to all, Hank WB4ROA/NNN0BBX