Heh, I've never met you, but I'd love to buy you a beer! Have no fear, the guys 20-30 I've worked with have the same fire and spirit you do, but are more than a bit shackled by ROE now. I hope that changes soon.
On a similar note, one of our Flight Surgeons is 55, and we just retired a guy at 57 who flew F16s until 2005! Old don't mean soft, it means "seen lots of young welps get whupped!"
Air Force reserve units once used to say something like."Old age, experience and treachery will beat youth and enthusiasm every time", when they'd whup up on active duty forces flying better aircraft.