Thoughts from cnelk II

[cnelk]

As I stated is another post, every once in awhile I will be posting a thread called \'Thoughts from \'cnelk\'
They will be certain items of interest, current issues and other misc topics.

The topic today is the frequency of the american flag getting flown at half mast.

I get email notifications every time the President or Governor issues flags to flown at half mast.
It sure seems like this great honor has been diluted - every time someone deems it necessary.

I am not making light of the fact of \'WHY\' flags get lowered, but it sure seems they get lowered a lot more than did in the past.
The most recent lowering of flags is for the late John Glenn.
A true great American for sure, astronaut and politician

What are the requirements for lower the US flag?
I really dont know but I like to see all US flags flown at full mast, and in a most memorable occasion, lowered.

 

[bnsafe]

i dont know the answer as to the criteria or what it should be. i can tell you that when my cousin was kia a month ago almost all the flags in our town on private property was lowered within a couple days, but it was a local showing of respect for a warrior. the town itself was suppose to have permission from the governor to lower its flags but did so on its own out of respect. and, the gov of mo issued a order for all flags across mo to be lowered the day of the funeral and flags in the county lowered for 4 days i think.
i am glad it was a local and then mo thing and not federal. i like our flag flying high in our nation with a few showing honor. shows we may get punched but never beat and our will is strong even through tradegy.
i dont know if it was right or wrong, but i do know it meant something to our family, that the sacrifice was noted and honored.

 

[WW]

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I\'m mighty proud of that (Ragged Old Flag)

 

[Deertick]

I get those email notifications, too ... a LOT of them.

Many are for public servants who I\'ve never heard of, and -- nothing against them -- but at some point, we can ALL be viewed as being public servants.

In some ways, I see this \"public servant\" stuff as a way to hitch on to what we refer to as \"service\" in the military. I hear it all the time. USFS workers \"serve\". Sorry, no, they don\'t. They work for the USFS. Likewise with legislators. \"Serving\" in the legislature is not the same as serving in the military.

(That ought to get some discussion fired-up)

 

[bnsafe]

100 percent agree john, imo, the flag should come down due to the action involved, not the person or who they worked for. for example, idc if the president dies, if it was natural causes then no flag at half. but if we are attacked or someone dies for this country then down they come. not all like in my previous post, but around that area.

 

[razorback]

I couldn\'t agree more with all the previous posts. I used to get notifications (state and federal) for lowering of the flag. I don\'t know how many times I was asked why our flag was at half staff. Most of the time I couldn\'t even remember the name of the individual because it was a former politician. When I did remember and explained that to someone making an inquiry, it was almost always \"never heard of him\". It seems there has become no standard, just the discretion of a politician. Just to be clear, if the notification was for a fallen service member, I made it a point to know as much as possible about that person. Maybe it was wrong thinking on my part but I always wanted to lower the flag when it was a SM, if it was a former politician, I delegated that duty. Just my perspective on the issue.

 

[razorback]

FLYING THE FLAG AT HALF-STAFF: The pertinent section of the Flag Code says, \"by order of the President, the flag shall be flown at half-staff upon the death of principal figures of the United States Government and the Governor of a State, territory, or possesion, as a mark of respect to their memory.
display of the flag at half-staff - USFlag.org

Just FYI