What is the correct side for the American Flag patch to be worn on a military uniform?
By: Dr. Zoe L. Simmons
To my amazement, living in a military town, every soldier I asked, had a different answer to this question.
Well the answer is, there are two separate flag patches in the military uniform. The normal United States Flag replica is worn on the left sleeve. A Vietnam Vet stated, “Having the flag on the left sleeve, has it closer to our heart.” What is referred to as the “reversed field” flag patch, is worn on the right side.
If one were to watch the TV show JAG, one would notice that the Navy pilots are wearing the flag patch on the left. Click the channel to CNN, and you would notice Generals briefing America on the Iraqi war, are wearing the patch on the right. The question would them stem, why?
CINCUSAREUR (Commander in Chief, United States Army Europe) has directed that all deployed United States Army Forces supporting or committed to IFOR (Intelligient Forces) operations will wear the full color United States Flag patch (US Flag Replica) on the utility uniform right sleeve. Soldiers who are not deployed shall wear the United States Flag replica on the utility uniform left sleeve.
The flag represent a living country and is itself considered a living thing. Therefore, lapel flag pins being a replica should be worn on the left lapel near the heart. Another important fact is that only public service officials (ex: military, policemen, firemen) can only wear the American Flag replica on their uniform.
The question has also been asked why during Vietnam were there no American Flag patches on the uniforms. As many photos that I have seen, I never paid attention to that fact. Doing some research about uniforms, this is the conclusion I came with. During Vietnam War, the United States government issued what is known as the single color “olive” utility uniform to soldiers. New material, new color, with black inked on insignia’s. With the uniforms not being of camouflaged material as there were during Desert Storm and our current war, I would have to say wearing the American Flag patch on the uniform would have stood out. If anyone knows otherwise, I would like to know.
During WWII, 101st Airborne was the only ones that wore the American Flag patch. Once again the question is why? If anyone knows, please visit our magazine online @ https://americanlegacies.org.
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Quotations
About Happiness
There is only one success: to be able to spend your life in your own way, and not to give others absurd maddening claims upon it.
--Christopher Darlington
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About Being Oneself
If all you pulled in one direction, the world would keel over.
--Yiddish proverb
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The man who never makes a mistake always takes orders from one who does. No man or woman who tries to pursue an ideal in his or her own way is without enemies.
--Daisy Baker
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Do just once what others say you can’t do, and you will never pay attention to their limitations again.
--James R. Cook
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If a million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.
--Anatole France
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When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.
--Eric Hoffer
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When all think alike, no one is thinking very much.
--Walter Lippmann
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Every generation laughs at the old fashions; but follows religiously the new.
--Henry David Thoreau
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We are discreet sheep; we wait to see how the drove is going, and then go with the drove.
--Mark Twain
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Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
--Mark Twain
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It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.
--Voltair
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About the Necessity of Compromise
Lots of times you have to pretend to join a parade in which you’re not really interested in order to get where you’re going.
-Christopher Darlington
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In any free society, the conflict between social conformity and individual liberty is permanent, unresolvable, and necessary.
--Kathleen Norris
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About Standing Up for One’s Opinion
One who sits between two chairs may easily fall down.
--Proverb from Russia & Romania
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The person who has no opinion will seldom be wrong.
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About Humbleness
My opinions may have changed, but not the fact that im right.
--Ashleigh Brilliant
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The fellow who thinks he knows it all is especially annoying to those of us who do.
--Harold Coffin
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Too bad all the people who know how to run this country are busy running taxicabs or cutting hair.
--George Burns
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The only fool bigger than the person who knows it all is the person who argues with him.
--Stanislaw Jerszy
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Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.
--Voltaire
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To be absolutely certain about something, one must know everything or nothing about it.
--Olin Miller
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It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them.
--Mark Twain
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About Tolerance
Deal with the faults of others as gently as with your own.
--Chinese Proverb
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I will not condemn you for what you did yesterday, if you do it right today.
-Sheldon S. Maye
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About Hypocrisy
We know what a person thinks not when tells us what he thinks, but by his actions.
--Isaac Bashevis Singer
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As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.
--Andrew Carnegie
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Published in U S Legacies Magazine June 2003
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