gr4techie
"... you tell someone you're in the RAF, they say nothing and move on."
What on earth do you want them to say? What do you mean by 'support' after all, you make the forces sound like a sport team.
There is wide spread sympathy and empathy for what folk in the forces are going through as a result of misadventures such as Iraq and Afghanistan, there is much wider spread support for the concept that going there was a fundamental mistake and has made life in the UK that much more dangerous.
Look at how returning vets were treated in the US and Australia after Vietnam, now they had a case for a lack of support, I don't think anyone in today's armed forces has anywhere near such a case. Thankfully.