I get a lot of emails about the US flag patches worn on the shoulders of our servicemen. The cameras are constantly catching snippets of our men and women in uniform. In case you are one of the few who hasn’t noticed, the flag on the right shoulder appears to be flying backwards. Believe it or not this is correct.
The blue star field always takes the forward position of a moving object. So if you have two shoulders, the left-hand side would have the flag position we are all accustom to, but the right-hand side would appear to have the flag backwards. The same applies to the right and left side of automobiles, boats, planes and anything else that moves forward. Imagine the wind blowing the flag as you move ahead and that would be the appropriate flag representation.
See our American Flag Etiquette page.
