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

I am not going to judge people if they display the Confederate flag just because the media wants to go bonkers over ratings. If this flag brings anyone such great discomfort and there is a legitimate reason why said offended person is on a the installation, file a complaint in an orderly fashion. Not that I think anyone would do this but following someone until the get to their destination to talk to them about their flag is harassment.

As an American I have the freedom to offend or be offended, just as you have that same right or just ignore you and keep going. If we decide to fight, it should just be that and not a hate crime. Some people just need an ass whupping, and I've had some. The flag is part of American history and does not belong to Nazis white supremacist anymore than the swastika belongs to Nazi Germany. The swastika design is also a native American design and has been on many blankets way before Hitler adopted it.

CPT Aaron Kletzing While some people may associate it for ethnic pride, heritage pride, or whatever reason, they have the right to display it. Personally, I don't have any problem with it unless it is used associated with extremist groups such as the KKK.

However, displaying this flag does associate one's self with certain mentality or culture. And yes, I am generalizing and stereotyping here.

1) Rebel: I get it. I am a rebel myself. But I don't intentionally drive a gas guzzling truck in order to represent how manly I am. Nor do I complain about how much the gas is while ignoring the fact of myself being part of the problem. BTW, yes, it is "REAL" manly for you to hang some testicles from an animal that you have no chance to kill with your own bare hand.

2) Eating habit: I get it. Butter, grease, lard, and bacon fat make everything taste better. Do people have to make such poor lifestyle choice and whine about how much healthcare has become? Again, these people are the problem and they blame everybody else but themselves.

3) Environmental concern: I don't know if global warming is real or not. But I know that pollution is a real problem and these companies are dumping toxic chemicals and materials into the environment that in turn poison us and everything else. If any of your friend and family member has any kind of medical chronic disease (that may be caused by pollution) and you think it is perfectly ok to pollute the environment or too lazy to do your part to make the environment better, you need to re-evaluate how intelligent you really are.

4) Hunting: While you think you have every right to kill any innocent animal with your advanced scope and rifle and display their chopped off head in your living room, you get all angry about the Muslim radicals killing people. I personally don't think you know what empathy is and you don't have any either.

The list goes on and I run out of time.

No, I don't have any problem with people displaying the flag. I just think your intelligence is questionable and some may even fail as a human being.

As usual, there are exceptions...

Case in point. When Gov. Barnes changed the Georgia state flag that had the battle flag on it in 2001 that was mostly a push from the NAACP and people mostly oitside of our state. Then Gov. Perdue let us vote on a new flag in 2003. This one is basically the First National Flag of the Confederacy with our state seat inside the circle of stars and the words "In God We Trust" as well.

What I think is funny is the state has had no problems with this flag as far as the NAACP claiming it to be racist. Why? I believe it's because most people have no idea that this is actually a copy of a confederate flag. It's all hypocritical of you ask me. From the pictures below you can see why we hated the 2001-2002 flag. I have them ordered 1957-2001 first, 2001-2002 second, and 2003-present third.

These are the things that start fights but I will weigh my two cents like anyone else. No I don't think it would be waved around on a military installation for the meaning it has. Might not be the meaning it has for all people but what the flag stands for is ignorance of the foulest kind.

I have plenty of airmen who tell me that isn't what it means to them and they are welcome that freedom but when something like that becomes a poster for racism, sorry it is sort of hard to mean much else.

I have met both kinds of people that fly this very flag, so I have heard every reason on why it is okay to a person. However, what it currently means in the large part of todays society, this flag shouldn't be flown on a military installation out of respect for your brother who has every right to be offended by it.

The Civil War was fought over slavery. (That's a period at the end of that sentence.)

Sorry.

That's the truth of the matter.

Any attempt to paint the "Rebellion" as a fight for States Rights is simply not true. It's historical revisionism, and faces a flood tide of actual documentation laying out the real issue - slavery. (Again, period)

And, no, the evils of slavery didn't end with the end of slavery. It is a festering wound that still infects America today because there are still a number of people who insist on their truth that slavery was justified.

The Confederate banner is inextricably linked to that cause.

Again, sorry.

It's true.

I too think that there's a certain appeal to its color and design, but I can't see past the evil it implies.

So, wear it if you must. Display it if you must.

Just don't be surprised that some take offense.

You are linking arms with evil.

That doesn't make you evil.

But it does cause you to suffer guilt by association.

That being said, I understand that there are many to whom the image of being a rebel has a certain appeal. (I'm one.) And there is a flag that properly represents the spirit of rebellion as well as the legitimate struggle for States Rights over and against a blotted federal bureaucracy growing tyrannical as it grows in size beyond constitutional limits. It is the Gadsden Flag embellished with a rattlesnake proclaiming "Don't tread on me".

Inasmuch as the Gadsden Flag is today associated with the TEA Party don't be surprised if it too is forbidden on military posts some day. Not because commanders revile it, but rather because their political superiors revile it.

And don't be phased by claims that the Gadsden Flag represents slavery and racial discrimination like the Stars 'n Bars. These are pejoratives that have been launched against conservatives without evidence in an effort to shut them up.

Being a native-born Virginian, I have what may appear to be contradictory answers to your questions.

(1) On or off post, any soldier proudly displaying the flag of the Confederate States of America should be reminded that they are implicitly endorsing either an alliance which waged war on the United States (during the War of Northern Aggression) or a treasonous insurrection waged against the Constitution of the United States (during the Civil War). Such an endorsement runs counter to the oath he (or she) took, and I suspect that no court would consider such a public expression to be speech protected from the military discipline.

(2) Despite my oath-bound answer above, the Confederate flag symbolizes the paradox of the Second Amendment, where the right to arm ourselves for defense against tyranny is spelled out but with no mention of the fact that any such actual defense would be the very legal definition of treason.

(3) I've lost count of how many military situations I've been in which offended someone.
That said, I've always felt that you can't be in a profession that calls for skill in breaking things and hurting people while still worrying about hurt feelings. Many, many years ago I used to drop in on meetings of Students Opposed to the Nuclear Arms Race right after ROTC Leadership Lab, sometimes still cammied up from field training. I found it amusing how visitors from elsewhere would frequently look disgusted, but the university students seemed to enjoy my contributions to the discussion (things like explaining why World War III wouldn't be over in 30 minutes after a single massive missile volley). It's amazing what being polite and careful about your facts can do for discussing serious matters with folks who are really open-minded.

Freedom of speech: yes.
Smart: No.

Doing this on post has only one reason I can think of, "pay attention to me."
The attention you will receive is bound to be both disruptive and negative. You will likely end up in some commander's office. So why?

My great grandfather was a union Sgt. From the 9th Pennsylvania as was my Great great great grandfather both were union. GGGF fought at Gettysburg, I have a picture of him ,his wife in. Her bee hive bun and him in his union Tunic. I have a copy of his diary and picture of his peach tree twigs notched from. Each battle. He was in. My GGGGF fought At Sharpsburg, Union known as Antietam.
The war has been over for over 150 years or more. The pros and cons will go on for another 150 years. It was a part of history. I am from the south. Born in Marietta Ga. Outside. Atlanta . I have lived in Texas Missouri. Georgia and. Am very proud of the south as it stands today,hospitality, friendly people, good food and atmosphere. There are customs and history from each part of the United States. We beat the French during the war of 1812 but we still drink. French wine. We were beaten at the Alamo, but we annexed Texas and California, and we eat a lot of Tex- Mex and drink Corona beer, we even beat the Red Coats from the British Empire, but we adopted a lot of thier customs. We invented a flag disturbing to the British Empire. Now.....GOING BACK TO the Flag of Dixie, it does not stand for hatred or racism, that is in the mind of the viewer, which is your. 1st AMMENDMENT rights. HOWEVER , I also have those same rights, to display. The Confederate flag where and when I want to, to remember Southern Pride, Dixie, hospitality. A beer with the good ole boys. Bubba, Buford or Mary Jane. It represents pride from being from the south and growing up in a land of near poverty for those living in near poverty and the Ozarks, but will help a neighbor out in a second. Therefore we are proud of Dixie, our way of life our customs our flag and our homeland . AGAIN RACISM AND HATRED AND THOSE THOUGHTS ARE IN THE MIND OF THE VIEWER.......NOT. THE DISPLAYER.

I dont like it. I hate to seeing it. Its distasteful. It was the Flag of the enemy. I can understand if it was a state flag, but it isn't. I think it a slap in the face for a service member to wear of fly the flag.It's one of the many things that causes division amongst the people of this nation. I lived in and went to school in Raleigh, North Carolina and I cant remember seeing this flag displayed publicly. How the flag reminds someone of home, I just cant understand it. Did I really just read a comment that said, "I had a Black Soldier from SC who had a Rebel flag up in his Room. I think he also had one on his huge pickup truck as well." Wow! But that's just my $0.02.