I went to an Air Army base for a few days and when I arrived I was wearing my beret pulled to the left. I noticed the Air troopers wore their light blue berets carefully shaped over to the right, so once I had found where I was suposed to go I rectified the slant, and fixed an ornate enameled A (my initial and coincidentally my blood group) to the front in place of a badge.

The alteration was not lost on the men, and they rather appreciated the gesture.

They were rather amused to find that I had a webbing belt with polished brasswork - still do, wear it with the DPM kilt - though the polish is not so good these days, and some shiny little black boots, and an ancient Swedish Army jacket with lance corporal stripe, which naturally I did NOT wear around the camp.

I noticed that I was treated slightly differently to the rest of the visitors and was invited to have tea and snacks with the camp's civilian staff - and I was given a tour of their aircraft hangers which the others didn't get.

I can only advise that when in military environments conformity brings a higher degree of acceptance, and even better - tea and cakes plus sandwiches.