Posted on Aug 22, 2014
Feelings on displaying the Confederate flag on your POV or person while on a military installation?
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Recently, I had a long and heated discussion with a fellow veteran about this issue. I don't know for sure whether a branch-specific reg or a DoD-wide reg exists that prohibits/allows personnel on a military installation to display the Confederate flag on their personal vehicle or on their person (e.g. a belt buckle). Maybe this is a base-specific policy and left to the judgment of the installation commander. Display of the Confederate flag is a divisive issue and people often feel really strongly one way or the other. But today, it is still a relevant topic and touches on other military leadership/discipline areas, including the actions of one member deeply offending another member -- regardless of whether said action is legal/authorized. That can create huge problems in a military unit, and this happened in a unit I personally served in. So, below are my questions for the RallyPoint community about this issue.
Please try to keep comments professional (don't attack one another) and explain your thoughts as best you can.
Questions:
(1) How do you feel about the Confederate flag being displayed on the vehicle/person of a service member if he/she is ON post? How does your opinion change if the member is OFF post?
(2) What does the Confederate flag symbolize to you personally? What do you think it can symbolize to other people around you who may perceive it differently?
(3) If you have personally experienced a military-related situation where a symbol/flag caused someone to be offended, what happened and what did you/would you have done as the leader?
I look fwd to everyone's thoughts on this. Personally, I have some strong feelings about this issue, though I don't want to bias people's answers upfront. Please be as honest as possible.
Tag: SSG Emily Williams Col (Join to see) 1SG Steven Stankovich SSG Scott Williams 1LT Sandy Annala CPT (Join to see) SSG V. Michelle Woods MSG Carl Cunningham
Please try to keep comments professional (don't attack one another) and explain your thoughts as best you can.
Questions:
(1) How do you feel about the Confederate flag being displayed on the vehicle/person of a service member if he/she is ON post? How does your opinion change if the member is OFF post?
(2) What does the Confederate flag symbolize to you personally? What do you think it can symbolize to other people around you who may perceive it differently?
(3) If you have personally experienced a military-related situation where a symbol/flag caused someone to be offended, what happened and what did you/would you have done as the leader?
I look fwd to everyone's thoughts on this. Personally, I have some strong feelings about this issue, though I don't want to bias people's answers upfront. Please be as honest as possible.
Tag: SSG Emily Williams Col (Join to see) 1SG Steven Stankovich SSG Scott Williams 1LT Sandy Annala CPT (Join to see) SSG V. Michelle Woods MSG Carl Cunningham
Regulation
Policy
Respect
Confederate Flag
Edited 10 y ago
Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 326
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On November 28, 1861, Confederate soldiers in General Robert E. Lee's newly reorganized Army of Northern Virginia received the new battle flags in ceremonies at Centreville and Manassas, Virginia, and carried them throughout the Civil War. ... It was sometimes called Beauregard's flag or the Virginia battle flag.... This is a flag flown in Battle against the Army and Navy of the United States of America. It does not celebrate the culture of the South, it celebrates the Army of the South. It celebrates an Army that fought and lost to preserve the right of the states to preserve the insitution of slavery.
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I don’t have strong feelings about this, but, when I was at Ft. McClellan in 1962, members of the Alabama National Guard wore the Confederate Battle Flag above one of their front pockets on their fatigues.
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During WWII, the 45th Infantry Division was composed largely of Hopi, Navajo, Zuni, and other southwest tribal members. Their divisional insignia was a yellow swastika on a red diamond. The swastika was a religious symbol in their indigenous religion, but because of the swastika's affiliation with the Nazis, it was changed to a thunderbird. I am a southerner. To me, the confederate flag represents courage, élan, and a sense of home... in fact, when I was a young Marine, what it really represented to me was Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Atlanta Rhythm Section. However, our flag has been conscripted by a bunch of wet-brained racists to represent their idiotic dogma, and is a symbol of hatred to many people. So, the bottom line is this: use the manners that your mama taught you. Don't go out of the way to offend people. As an American, you have the right to display whatever you want (as long as it doesn't directly incite violence), but as a human being, you should demonstrate respect for other people's feelings. Caveat: I'm not talking about the I'm-so-special snowflakes. I'm talking about your buddies.
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This applys to all subjects not just the Confederate Flag or the UNIA Flag.
Ok - if you're offend then say it up front to the person AND THEN WALK AWAY. You don't have to explain why or lecture the person. You don't have to cry or whine or nag. You do have the responsibility to speak your mind then shut up.
Ok - if you're offend then say it up front to the person AND THEN WALK AWAY. You don't have to explain why or lecture the person. You don't have to cry or whine or nag. You do have the responsibility to speak your mind then shut up.
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The Confederate flag needs to be relegated to museums, not displayed on bumpers.
There is so much disinformation being pushed at our youth about the causes of the Civil War and the symbolism. Here’s my take:
1. The Civil War was about economics. In fact, economics divides our country well before. The North actually came close to seceding because of Jefferson’s Embargo Act, to the extent that Madison’s administration persuaded Congress to declare war on Britain. This is a classic play, repeated many times since.
2. The Civil War, by extension, was about the preservation of slavery. Abolishing slavery would impact the Southern economy, which is why their political leaders fought so hard to preserve it.
3. The Union screwed up Reconstruction. The reforms were aggressively imposed to the extent that we immediately had a handful of Black Congressmen for a while. Then the federal government left the South, creating space for the KKK to rise.
4. The monomers were erected during the first and second KKK surges and after the Brown decision. These monuments and all the schools that are named for Confederate leaders, were by design with the intent of reminding Blacks of their inferior status. Ergo for displaying Confederate flags.
5. Facing a threat to their control of the system, the white minority of the South fought as hard to preserve the status quo as Blacks did to exercise their right to vote. We aren’t not truly past the Civil Rights era and displays of the Confederate flag show that we are not finished with our efforts to achieve equality.
There is so much disinformation being pushed at our youth about the causes of the Civil War and the symbolism. Here’s my take:
1. The Civil War was about economics. In fact, economics divides our country well before. The North actually came close to seceding because of Jefferson’s Embargo Act, to the extent that Madison’s administration persuaded Congress to declare war on Britain. This is a classic play, repeated many times since.
2. The Civil War, by extension, was about the preservation of slavery. Abolishing slavery would impact the Southern economy, which is why their political leaders fought so hard to preserve it.
3. The Union screwed up Reconstruction. The reforms were aggressively imposed to the extent that we immediately had a handful of Black Congressmen for a while. Then the federal government left the South, creating space for the KKK to rise.
4. The monomers were erected during the first and second KKK surges and after the Brown decision. These monuments and all the schools that are named for Confederate leaders, were by design with the intent of reminding Blacks of their inferior status. Ergo for displaying Confederate flags.
5. Facing a threat to their control of the system, the white minority of the South fought as hard to preserve the status quo as Blacks did to exercise their right to vote. We aren’t not truly past the Civil Rights era and displays of the Confederate flag show that we are not finished with our efforts to achieve equality.
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The flag was flown over American soil by American soldiers. Their bodies are in graves in our National cemeteries. Lincoln forgave them. It should be treated no different than any versions of the stars and stripes.
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The Confederacy was an enemy of the United States. No one who swears an oath to protect and defend (the US) Constitution has any business flying the Confederate, or any other enemy flag.
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