Smudge, I'm sure that the RAF changed a lot in the 30 years that you were in it. It certainly did in the mere 13 years that I was in. It's just that you were in it all that time and changed along with it, as it were. I'm sure that it wasn't all gradual, but even the "bumps" along the way could be accommodated. They had to be.
What seems to strike us more though are the obvious changes that have occurred in our years away. Sort of like returning to see your first home, now sporting new windows, an extension and a new front door. No doubt others did the same thing when you lived there and noted the changes since their time.
So it is with this forum. We are entranced by Danny 42C's postings on the WW2 Pilot Brevet thread of the RAF that he and his predecessors describe and marvel at the contrast with the more intimate one we knew. That is the power of PPRuNe, and long may it be so.
Scottie66 makes a very important point too, that many serving read but don't post. That silent majority is easily observed in the viewing/replies ratio on the RHS of the thread lists. They are our "readers", to be amused or appalled as appropriate!
Oh, edited to add that I'm learning more about my time, let alone any other, thanks to PPRuNe. We are all by nature somewhat parochial and I was as guilty as others in sticking to my "kind", ie aircrew Squadron personnel. Now thanks to you and your colleagues, the "other" Air Force is revealed of the engineering support on which our very lives depended. Similarly Danny tells us the ATC side of things, Al R the Regiment's, etc etc. I learn something everyday in this virtual crew room!