We may speak the same language but Brits and Yanks are truly two different peoples. The news is full of the scandal that members of the British military have been advised not to wear their uniforms in public as this might ‘risk offending minorities’. Incredible but true. 

The Times reports

Certain areas in Britain will still have to remain off-limits for servicemen and women in military gear, despite the Government’s desire for a nationwide uniform free-for-all, senior RAF sources acknowledged yesterday. After the ban on uniforms in Peterborough, ordered by the station commander at nearby RAF Wittering, one senior air force source said that military commanders had to be aware of potential problems of personnel wearing combat and other military clothes in the street.

What a travesty. Those who risk their lives by serving in the military are now told to change into civvies on the streets of their own country due to “the sensitivities …in some ethnic minority communities”.  Even Her Majesty is reported to be "concerned" that RAF servicemen and women have been banned from wearing their uniforms in Cambridgeshire after months of verbal abuse in the streets.  The disgrace of it! 

It’s a whole different attitude State-side. The Virtual Husband tells me that there are plenty of discounts available for serving military in uniform in shops and hotels. At airports, those called to board first are the elderly, disabled, those with young children and “serving military personnel”. Such is the level of respect for the military that, when walking through an airport, I have seen people stop and shake the hand of someone in uniform. The Virtual Husband reports standing on a bus recently and observing a scruffy, pony-tail wearing, hippy, young man (who was about to get off) approach a woman army officer on the bus in uniform, shake her hand and say “thank you for your service”. Not something one would ever hear in Blighty. Respect for those who offer their lives to fight in their country’s armed forces is long lost here - but very much alive and well in the USA.