Can troops talk to their chain of command these days?

I was recently talking to my son-in-law about my time in the Army during the early to mid-90's. He was amazed at the story I told him of the time I let my squad leader borrow my car one day. My squad leader was an E-5 who was single and lived in the barracks. I was an E-3, married, and lived off post. I then told him some stories about my chain smoking platoon sergeant (E-7), and I have tons of stories about me and my old 1st Sgt. We broke the rules and fraternized quite often. My son-in-law is on AD right now and just made E-5. He told me that in today's Army you don't speak to your platoon Sgt, you certainly don't speak to your 1st Sgt, and you NEVER speak to your CSM. He reports that if you are speaking to any of them then you are more than likely in some kind of trouble.
I can recall speaking to my BN CSM many times, and occasionally even my BDE CSM. Both our CSM's would get out and roam the unit grounds and speak with soldiers all the time. Our BDE CSM loved to go to the motor pool and inspect the vehicles. (This was in an Infantry Brigade by the way.) CSM Fitzpatrick would frequently quiz you on general orders, AR 670-1 topics, and promotion board questions.
Our 1st SGT was very approachable and loved to talk with soldiers every day. He had his finger on the pulse of what the soldiers were thinking and feeling, that made him invaluable to the CO, and is probably why he enjoyed a 34 year career in the Army, with over a decade as a CSM.
My son-in-law tells me that today's military is no longer like this and that the troops basically do not communicate with the higher up's. If the troops can't even talk to their platoon sergeant, then how is the 1st SGT going to get reliable info to the CO? How does the CO forward any useful info up the chain from there? This is distressing to me, I've read articles from troops saying that they feel disrespected and do not plan to re-enlist because of this situation. I know our morale is down right now, but it seems that our current command structure may be causing much of this. What say you?