Feelings on displaying the Confederate flag on your POV or person while on a military installation?

By congressional act and signed into law by the president at the time, all confederate veterans are to be treated as any other US veteran. I see no reason for this to be an issue.

Me personally, it’s part of American history. Let us not forget.

Let me tell you a story about a friend of mine. Way back in 1978 a Buddy of mine, Joe, whom is from NY and black, did not have a drivers license due to the cost to get one in NY and the drivers training classes one had to attend. We were stationed in Ft. Polk La. We got him a book and took him out to drive and he got it all down. I had a 1977 TA Bright Red he was using for the driving part. Well off he and I go to the local License testing branch. He took the written test and passed and so was told the Trooper would meet him out by his car for the driving test. He comes out and says he is about to take the driving test I tossed him the keys. an old(looked like a tree old kinda guy) 6'4" Louisiana Trooper not 10 feet behind him. There were 2 cars in the lot, real busy place back then. One was the old big black titanic Cadillac and my bright red Trans-Am, adorned with the Stars and Bars front plate, inside it had a Stars and Bars flag headliner. So the trooper looks around, heads towards the Caddy, Joe starts towards the T/A. The trooper was half way to the caddy when he noticed Joe not with him. He looked around and saw him headed towards the T/A and quickly headed that way. Once he got there the 1st thing he did was look at the front Stars and Bars plate and kinda looked at Joe. Then he got in immediately looking up up at the Stars and Bars Headliner and back at Joe, again with a puzzled look on his face. He pointed and off they went. Well I watched that trooper keep reflecting up and at Joe as they drove away. I watched the car go out of the lot, down to the 1st road turn around point and right back to the lot to park. The trooper got out and went inside, I asked Joe "WTF over?" He said "all he had me do was turn around after we got got on the road." I asked him if he passed he said "I don't know all he said was turn around and go back, when we got back he simply got out and walked away". I told him to go inside and see. So he did and about 10 -15 minutes later he walks out with his Drivers License in hand. Again I asked him about the driving test and what the trooper said, his reply made us both laugh "the trooper told me if I had balls big enough to drive around in a Bright Red sports car with the Stars and Bars all over it, you deserve to pass". Never judge the books, read the pages in between. Life's good

1. No problem. I’m not inclined to fits of righteous indignation on behalf of unknown third parties who I merely assume would be offended. Also, there is no right not to be offended.

2. Losers who can’t let go. Also, laughable historical revisionism. “States’ rights” to do what exactly? Their ‘right’ to force other states to hunt down and forcibly return escaped slaves.

3. No.

Great question. I am from South Carolina and here is my opinion. The flag for me represents a most horrific war that killed and maimed more men than all other wars we fought put together. It was a necessary war and as far as I am concerned the Confederate flag deserves a place because it is a reminder of the suffering of slavery and the men that fought on both sides. The cliché that those who don’t remember the past are doomed to repeat it is apro po here. We must honor our past and the struggles we made to strive for equality and doing the right thing. I don’t have anything against people that don’t like the flag but every one of us veterans and those that serve protect the 1st amendment. Whether you like it or not the flag should be allowed to be displayed.

Nothing wrong with it at all, its a symbol of American Liberty.

Remember that most of the military are southerners! This is something close to their hearts. It doesn’t mean that they are ‘white’ supremacists. They are patriots!

There are local policies in place that forbid displaying offensive content. Trouble is defining offensive content. The Army wont let you display the Confederate flag in view of others from your quarters. State flags are fine, other country flags are fine. They used to tell us that it was unprofessional behavior and unbecoming of a SM to display a symbol of hate. My own opinions differ but, again, how do you define offensive content?

It's part of the history of our country. If they aren't shoving it it into my face I say tolerate it. Drive on. If I want to drive around with a Minnesota Vikings flag on my truck there are a large percentage of people from Wisconsin that aren't going to like it either!

Why would you want to fly the flag of the enemy of the USA? You can make any justification you want, but you can't argue against the fact that it is the flag of the enemy of the United States of America. That's a fact.

WOW! Captain, I hope your helmet is firmly secured on your head! I can't answer your first two questions, though my gut reaction is that ostentatious display of the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia by an active duty serviceman is distructive of "good order" and the culture sought to be advanced. This might take educating troops, both those who hate that flag and those who "love" it. The issues that stand out to me are that those who display that flag may simply be doing so to express somewhat unfounded beliefs about "freedom" and "independence" and "individuality" and not necessarily expressing a "racial belief". Others may find the flag offensive because they see it as a very racist symbol. (I wonder how they feel - either one of these positions - about being stationed at A.P. Hill, Bragg, Stewart, or any number of installations named for Confederate generals?)
I believe it is well accepted that the Civil War was fought over slavery. But there was a deeper, philosophical cause as well: could the Union, once entered into, be dissolved?
One of the key issues is that the battle flag - which was not the flag of the C.S.A. - became the flag of the KKK. The reaction to the battle flag is sort of like the reaction to the swastika: an innocuous symbol (used by Finland) before adopted by the Nazis.
Which symbolism does the battle flag reflect? A flag followed by brave men - most, I suspect, not owning slaves - fighting for self-determination or a flag making a racial statement? As an old man, an historian, and born-and-bred Northerner, it represents the former rather than the latter. And this is the distinction that education might help troops to understand.