We used to have an excellent way of representing the RAF (and the RN) in the military SAR Force but this was moved out of the military and into commercial aviation.
Most people recognised either the yellow RAF aircraft or the grey RN ones and knew that the crews were military and spent 98% of their time rescuing civilians from life and health threatening situations, some very high profile.
We were sacrificed on the altar of Defence spending cuts because we weren't a 'core-military capability' despite a constant presence in the Falklands and providing our paramedic winchmen to MERT crews in Afghanistan.
Now the commercial operator is running out of rearcrew because they can't poach them from the military, where they used to be excellently trained.
A short sighted vision of the RAF/RN future by ambitious senior officers - if they had defended the SAR Force even half as much as the Reds, military crews would still be training and delivering top drawer SAR.
Those military crews who moved to the contractor have ensured the high standards remained but it would have been so much better to have kept those skills and personnel in house.
RAF SAR effectively became, in all but uniform, a civilian force over time. Rotating rear crew through deployed non-SAR operational roles was too little too late. The RN were better at rotating crews through SAR to give them a break from front-line ops and then take those skills back with them. As for military SAR being an advert for the military, I met many of the public who couldn't distinguish between the Coastguard, RAF SAR and RN SAR. Mostly, they just saw a rescue helicopter. All they cared about is that some highly trained people were there to do the business come the day, not what badge they wore.
Those of us who migrated from SH to SAR in the latter days could see the writing on the wall long before it happened. The move across to a civilian service has been a success despite the naysayers. They will solve the rearcrew challenges, the commercial world is very good at that.
Military SAR is long gone, it's time to move on. I have a feeling the reds may be in their last throes too. Time will tell.