No more Wings of Blue bringing in the US Flag?

flieger83

flieger83

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This makes me sad. The two USNA games I have attended and watched our son March on happened to be memorializing the anniversary of 9-11.

I have never seen or experienced more reverence for the flag than I saw those days. The fly in and the landing and respect for the flag were incredible and there was no disrespect of the flag.

I hope this over correction is revisited. Patriotism is important and seems to be in short supply. We could use these amazing feel good, chill and tear inducing moments.
 
My favorite for the showing of the flag is an actual mid or cadet running out onto the field holding the flag high while the rest follow.

That gives me the chills.

Just remember the rules are for the flag not for the service or SA. So what ever is good for the SAs as far as how the flag is presented goes for Jerry Used Cars as well.

You can’t be saying it’s not OK for Jerry but it’s OK for a SA.
 
This doesn't put an end to pre-game demonstrations - just waters them down. I expect/hope the Service Academies will continue the parachute demonstrations with some minor adjustments. And, hopefully, senior leadership will fix this mistake.
 
From reading the article, I don't think anything has changed for the academy jump teams unless they have gotten worse at catching the flag? From what I remember, the team would always have a ground team that would reliably catch the flag to prevent it from dragging on the ground. The article is pointing out that guidance, not saying that military personnel can't jump with the flag.

Having not been to a game in a LONG time, I can't say that the wings of blue is still "reliably" catching the flag, but seems like a reasonable thing to get better at to me.
 
USAFA10s said:
From reading the article, I don't think anything has changed for the academy jump teams unless they have gotten worse at catching the flag? From what I remember, the team would always have a ground team that would reliably catch the flag to prevent it from dragging on the ground. The article is pointing out that guidance, not saying that military personnel can't jump with the flag.

Having not been to a game in a LONG time, I can't say that the wings of blue is still "reliably" catching the flag, but seems like a reasonable thing to get better at to me.
Click to expand...
During Parent's Weekend this year, I did notice they they did not rush to catch the flag like I remember from my cadet days. I was thinking that it could be a safety issue. I was kinda sad about it because that was one of my favorite parts of the WOB demonstrations. Maybe this will prompt them to go back to it (as long as they can do it safely).
 
Reading the comments in the story, and then again this morning on another "channel" it appears they're also telling DOD members they can't be involved in "unfurling a huge flag horizontally on a field."

Same story with the same "restrictions" reported in "Stars & Stripes."

www.stripes.com

Pentagon tells service members to stop displaying giant US flags at major events

In a Feb. 10 memo to its public affairs offices, the Defense Department said that having service members carry the U.S. flag horizontally or land it on the ground after a parachute jump is no longer acceptable.
www.stripes.com www.stripes.com

Very sad.
 
Well I've seen a flag jump go a little squirrely. Actually the event I recall(and I know a few on this forum were attending), the jumper didn't even come down on the field, and ended up on a ridgeline a thousand or so feet from the field. Highly doubt there was ground crew awaiting to snatch the flag upon hitting the ground. Use a different flag for jumps, advertising an insurance company or some other military favorite corporation:)
 
This does feel more like selective enforcement in order to engineer a functional ban on certain activity that the Pentagon doesn't want to continue than a legitimate attempt to evenly enforce the flag code. A bit like the "unauthorized flag" ban in 2020 that was simply a confederate flag ban in everything but name. I have a display of Revolution-era battle flags in my office, including a First Navy Jack, Gadsden, and Pine Tree. They all passed muster, along with many other displayed flags in our squadron that could only very loosely be described as falling within the guidelines of that policy.
 
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