Every soldier in the Army, not just those deployed, must now wear the U.S. flag insignia on his or her utility uniform, according to a new Army rule.And in case you ever wondered why the flag seems to look "backward" the answer is written here.
By tradition, soldiers don’t sew the flag on the shoulder of their right uniform until they are deployed. As soon as they are back at their home station, the flag must come off.
But on Feb. 11, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker authorized the universal adoption of the insignia as a reminder to all soldiers that the Army is at war, according to Army spokesman Wayne Morse.
“We’re more of an expeditionary force now,” Morse said in a Friday telephone interview. “We’re at war, and we will be for the foreseeable future.”
But the short answer is this...Imagine your soldier wearing the patch...advancing with rapid speed. That rapid advance would cause a real flag, held by your soldier, to "point backwards" (that is, away from the enemy).
Well, depending upon if your soldier is authorized to wear the flag patch on the right or left shoulder, the flag is to appear as if it is being held aloft as the soldier moves forward at a rapid clip. (Of course that means the right shoulder flag patch is a mirror image of the left shoulder, or "normal looking" flag patch.)
Pretty cool, eh?:
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