Flag Half Mast

KABUL, Afghanistan - 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.

In the article issued Monday by the public affairs office at Bagram military base north of Kabul, Sgt. Jim Wilt lamented that his comrades’ deaths have become a mere blip on the TV screen, lacking the “shock factor” to be honored by the Stars and Stripes as the deaths at Virginia Tech were.

“I find it ironic that the flags were flown at half-staff for the young men and women who were killed at VT, yet it is never lowered for the death of a U.S. service member,” Wilt wrote.

Actually, I’ve wondered the same thing ….

I personally don’t begrudge the flags being flown at half-mast for the Virginia Tech massacre, but this isn’t the purpose of flying a flag at half-mast. Wilt’s point is that if we are going to do it in this instance we should certainly do it for our Soldiers.

He noted that Bagram obeyed President Bush’s order last week that all U.S. flags at federal locations be flown at half-staff through April 22 to honor 32 people killed at Virginia Tech by a 23-year-old student gunman who then killed himself.

“I think it is sad that we do not raise the bases’ flag to half-staff when a member of our own task force dies,” Wilt said.

He had some suggestions.

Wilt suggested that flags should fly at half-staff on the base where the fallen service member was working and in the states where they hail from. He said some states do this, but not all of them.


Unfortunately, the significance of flying a flag at half-mast is getting lost in all this.

The rules for flying a flag at half-mast are as follows:

Only the president of the United States or the governor of the state may order the flag to be at half-staff to honor the death of a national or state figure. Unfortunately, many city, business and organization leaders are half-staffing the flag upon the death of an employee or member. Instead, it is suggested to half-staff (if on a separate pole) the city, business or organizational flag. The federal flag code does not prohibit this type of half-staffing.

Approved times for flying the flag at half-mast:

  • Only the President and state Governors can decide when and how long the flag should be flown at half-staff.
  • Thirty days after the death of a president or former president
  • Ten days after the death of a vice president, the chief of justice or a retired chief of justice or the speaker of the house of representatives.
  • Until the burial of an associate justice of the Supreme Court, secretary of a military department, a former vice president, or the governor of a state, territory, or possession.
  • On the day of and the day after the death of a member of Congress.
  • On Memorial Day, the day set aside to honor all the people who have died while serving the United States & originally called Decoration Day, the flag is flown at half-Staff until noon, then raised to full staff until sundown.

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