In the 1990s the widespread use of night vision by the U.S. during Desert Storm was fucking wild. Yeah night vision has been around for ages, but seeing a huge chunk of frontline forces using it as a regular thing was pretty scifi to the public. In in the early GWOT, seeing the widespread use of lasers on rifles was kind of nuts to see. These days night vision is blase and in the tactical world using lasers is kind of seen as dated and everyone wants passive aiming, but back then it was the most futuristic shit ever