Stargate mission patch question

[Cut]

On the uniforms of both the SG teams and the SGA teams patches are featured. On Atlantis the patches are the Mission Patch and the flag of the country that the team member hails from.

Why are those patches removed, when the teams go through the Gate? Just to make sure, that people the teams meet are unaware of the origins of the team seems to be not a valid point, as by first contact no one would recognise either the flag or the mission patches...

[RaconteurX]

I imagine it's so hostile species which can hide in an indigenous population won't gain any easy clues to the team's origin.

[Sarge]

That's standard Air Force policy. Before every combat mission, we always "sanitized" our flight suits. All our unit insignia and specialty badges are on velcro so we can pull them off before we fly. That makes it harder for the bad guys to get useful info out of us if we're captured.

A lot of us had special patches that we only wore on combat missions, usually cartoons or jokes or school mascots. I used to fly wearing the coat of arms of the SCA kingdom I belonged to.

[Cut]

Ah, ok. Thanks, Sarge. I actually didn't know that!