If you need experts 24/7, you should have had shifts that cover that timeframe.

Oncall is a source of so many ways for abuse, don't even ask me how I know. Saying that rejecting Oncall is denying support for you system is bollocks.

I'm happy that younger engineers mostly laught at that concept and leave. Once of the few lessons they are teaching us (the old pricks), especially in self care and respect space.

Maybe you're right, systems these days are more 24/7 than they used to be seems like devs these days have had it so easy for so long though.