I heard about this on the radio when driving home from Boston today. Per the AP:
An Army sergeant complained in a rare opinion article that the U.S. flag flew at half-staff last week at the largest U.S. base in Afghanistan for those killed at Virginia Tech but the same honor is not given to fallen U.S. troops here and in
Iraq.
The seargent goes on to suggest that flags at a killed soldier’s base and in his home state be ordered to half-staff.
He has a point. However, I also note:
- If flags flew at half-staff for military casualties, the flag would be flying at half-staff pretty much non-stop due to the current casualty rate in Iraq and Afghanistan. This would tend to erode what public support remains for the administration’s plans in that part of the world, and therefore I wouldn’t hold my breath.
- I don’t know how it works in other states, but at least here in Connecticut, I could swear that the Governor does order flags to half-staff for Nutmegger war casualties.