Shawn,
He said that if you didn't dress like that (and added 'especially in Africa') you wouldn't get any respect from anyone.
I can vouch for that one in Africa. I am an engineer and wore the 2 bars with purple trim and it opened many doors that would have been firmly closed without them, like the door to the apron for example. I was once even promoted to "Captain" with 4 bars due to a particularly officious fellow. One of the guys had a set of epaulettes made with 6 bars just for sh1ts and giggles and people were falling over themselves to serve this new super pilot.
