The American Flag In Uniform

Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com

There is currently a poll question posted on the Officer.com homepage which asks, "Is there an American flag patch / pin on your uniform?" As I type this there have been 320 votes with 61% of them in the NO column. 39% have answered YES. Now I'm not sure which way exactly I should be looking at this... First, please understand that I am an Army service veteran. For all my time in uniform for the Army (or the Army National Guard where I spent some years too) there was no American Flag patch on my uniform. There were command patches and unit patches - but no American Flag patch. I never really understood that - and still don't to some large degree. Second, remember that I spent over twenty years wearing a police uniform. My first eleven years saw no American Flag patch on my uniform with the exception of my Dress Blue Blouse (coat). For the next eight years after that I had an American Flag patch on the right shoulder of all my uniform shirts. My final six years of active law enforcement duty were spent (mostly) in plain clothes. IF I wore a uniform, it had an American Flag patch on the right shoulder. During my plain-clothes work, if I wore a suit coat, there was an American Flag pin on the lapel. Having thought about all that I had to wonder whether I felt good or bad about the fact that 61% of the respondents in our poll (so far) don't have an American Flag patch or pin on their uniform. I mean, part of me feels like they certainly should to show off national pride. Another part of me feels that those law enforcement professionals (the large majority of them) are empowered by states, counties or cities/towns and maybe it's entirely appropriate that they DON'T have an American Flag on the uniform of their employing entity. Since I have such mixed thoughts about it, I thought I'd bring the topic "to the floor" for discussion and ask you, our readership, what your thoughts and feelings are on the matter. Care to share?