Flying the Flag properly

[Kevin G]

My town recently completed a multimillion dollar fire station/police headquarters. It’s got a tall flagpole in front that flies a good sized American Flag. Have noticed for sometime now that the flag is flown around the clock, but not illuminated in the dark.
Just got off the phone with our Town Manager’s secretary. She was a bit irritated when I informed her of the situation and suggested I call either the fire station or police department. I told her I wanted this information to go to the head of our town government so the situation could be taken care of.
I have a bit of a quirk around flying the flag properly. Working aboard ship I was known to refuse to relieve the watch if the flag was still up or not flying as it should be. I understood that sometimes the previous watch was tied up with cargo ops or tending lines and couldn’t get to it. If it was due to simple laziness I made a point of it. Rarely happened more than once.
Hopefully a fire will be lit under someone’s butt in town here.
Kevin G

 

[biku324]

Good for you!

 

[WardenRoss]

Preach on brother!

Another problem I find is that many have no understanding of what sunrise to sunset is.

I would go all R. Lee Ermey on the shift supervisor if he was late raising our colors.


,

 

[sophie]

Glad you got on to them for flying the flag without illumination at night. I would have thought someone in the Fire Department or Police Department would have known better than that. Maybe you will rattle the right cage and get some results. Stay on them until they either illuminate the flag or remove it at sundown each day.

 

[James K]

It irks me too when I see homes flying the Stars and Stripes 24/7 without illumination PLUS some are worn and tattered and that's a real disgrace.

 

[steelslaver]

I tell you another thing that frosts my fanny. So called patriots driving around with flags on the back of their pickups getting tattered and coated in dirt and exhaust. They obviously never served or they would have learned more respect.

 

[mckenney99]

I today's electronic notification age there is no reason flag owners and especially government installations cannot abide by local, state and federal declaration and the flag code for raising and lowering the American Flag to Half Staff and back up to Full Staff.
When I bought my flagpole or one of my flags, I signed up for notifications and they come right to my laptop. I also have a copy of the pertinent US Flag code on my refrigerator.
I constantly see the local fire/police stations. city buildings and even the US Post Office not lowering the flag or returning it to full staff when REQUIRED.

 

[Jebus35745]

I fly a flag 24/7 and have a dusk/dawn light on it. The way it’s supposed to be, Larry

 

[Rustyt1953]

My flag story:

On June 10th 1975, while processing out of the USAF a Major handed me a packaged folded flag. He said: "On behalf of a grateful nation welcome to US citizenship".

Upon completion of my honorable military service US law entitled me to citizenship.

I have tried to fly a flag wherever I could but it was not always possible.

FF to now; We moved to our forever home 22 months ago. I have flown our 22 month old flag almost every day.

It is illuminated.

 

[Kevin G]

I’ll take the opportunity to double dip here.
Local post office was quite negligent around flag etiquette. We have a PO Box, when retrieving the mail I would tell the Post mistress the flag wasn’t up or had been up all night, etc. She was very nonchalant and would reply It’s raining, I was busy, or whatever.
Decided I didn’t have enough horsepower to motivate the lady so I called both my senators and my congressman and described the situation and asked for help.
Took a little while, but flag etiquette at the post office improved.
Kevin G

 

[quikdraw67]

I fly a flag 24/7 and have a dusk/dawn light on it. The way it’s supposed to be, Larry

This.

 

[AJ]

That folks fly the flag is good. That at times it is not flown properly frost's me. One thing that I retained from my days as a 1stSgt. is a Flag Manual.

 

[Rustyt1953]

Unless it is flown upside down I care not one whit how the flag is displayed. The fact that anyone displays one is paramount to me.

A neighbor up the street has one screwed to his garage door. There are two F150s in this neighborhood that have US flag wraps. Kudos to them and all that make the effort to display one.

 

[Harv 24]

24/7 Baby, with a light that attract low flying airplanes. If you were ever on flag detail and had to raise/lower in front of Post HQ or stood at parade rest at Retreat and then saluted for To the colors, then you get it.

 

[STCM(SW)]

I fly a flag 24/7 and have a dusk/dawn light on it.
The U.S. naval jack is just below it.
On a navy ship the flag is on the mast 24/7 while at sea.

 

[Tinyman]

I’ll take the opportunity to double dip here.
Local post office was quite negligent around flag etiquette. We have a PO Box, when retrieving the mail I would tell the Post mistress the flag wasn’t up or had been up all night, etc. She was very nonchalant and would reply It’s raining, I was busy, or whatever.
Decided I didn’t have enough horsepower to motivate the lady so I called both my senators and my congressman and described the situation and asked for help.
Took a little while, but flag etiquette at the post office improved.
Kevin G

You are correct -- sometimes we just have to find the right button to push. One of my visits to a local Big Lots, saw the indoor flagpole bent and my flag hanging down. Stopped and asked the cashier to immediately call the store manager. A well-tatted purple hair showed up and I voiced my concern. She (?) said she would 'elevate' the problem. Well, no, I want it fixed now or taken down until Big Lots can afford a new pole. Called their '800' number and by the time I left, went next door and ate lunch and came back, it was fixed. At least 5 folks called me back to make sure I was happy with the whole deal -- I was.

 

[chief38]

My Flag flys 24 / 7 / 365 but is properly illuminated when dark outside. I installed a "hockey puck" LED light under it that automatically goes on with my landscape lighting at dusk and then off at dawn.

Originally I was going to install a 25 or 30 foot flag pole one the front lawn adjoining my neighbor's property but my neighbor beat me to it. If we have two of these next to each other I don't think it would look good, so mine is installed on the front wall of the house. I believe it is a 3' x 5' flag.

 

[HARLEY0]

My town recently completed a multimillion dollar fire station/police headquarters. It’s got a tall flagpole in front that flies a good sized American Flag. Have noticed for sometime now that the flag is flown around the clock, but not illuminated in the dark.
Just got off the phone with our Town Manager’s secretary. She was a bit irritated when I informed her of the situation and suggested I call either the fire station or police department. I told her I wanted this information to go to the head of our town government so the situation could be taken care of.
I have a bit of a quirk around flying the flag properly. Working aboard ship I was known to refuse to relieve the watch if the flag was still up or not flying as it should be. I understood that sometimes the previous watch was tied up with cargo ops or tending lines and couldn’t get to it. If it was due to simple laziness I made a point of it. Rarely happened more than once.
Hopefully a fire will be lit under someone’s butt in town here.
Kevin G

They need a flood light on the flag that goes on automatically when it gets dark out!

 

[14daMoney]

Lots of luck getting any action. Our local school district and police department are the same way. The school campus has 6 flag poles, and on any given day you'll see them all in different configurations. For a time when I would drop my granddaughter off, I had worked out a system that when I passed by the traffic director, I'd give him a thumbs up or down if they were all properly displayed for the day. If I gave him a thumbs down, he would call the superintendent's office and pass the message. It's probably back to hit and miss now.
I have a flagpole at each side of my property, both easy to raise and lower, and each with solar lighting.
For 16 years I'd also put a small flag atop the fire hydrant pole so it could be quickly seen at night and during the winter. Then the town sent me a notice saying it was a violation. So, I stopped doing their maintenance around it, now the weeds are 2' higher than the marker. Oh well, by the time a fire truck ever got here there'd only be ashes anyway .....

 

[HARLEY0]

Here is something that happened to my wife back in the late 70's early 80's.
She worked at a company that had a flagpole up front. Her boss asked her to put the flag up.
She had never done that before, so she takes the flag, goes out and puts it on the rope and raises it.
A short time later her father-in-law, my father (a fireman at that time) drives by and sees that the flag was upside down (meaning someone needs help) So he went inside and got my wife and helped her to raise the flag correctly. After work she came home and told me what happened, and we both had a little laugh about it!