This displayof the recently famous U.S. Seal’s “battle shirt” (?) says that the U.S. flag patch is displayed in such a manner–non standard, to civilians–to suggest the idea of a hoisted flag carried into battle, as viewed by soldiers who follow and are thereby encouraged.*
I get it, even though not all battles are entered windward.
I’ve never seen that explanation. Does it sound right? Are flag patches always that way in all US military services?
In other nations?
*The flapping flag in that orientation in Western art is worth a paper or two. You think in real battles soldiers who were heartened by seeing the flag–which I am not challenging–gave a shit which way it was flying, as long as it was upright?
The standard of wear for US troops assigned the Multinational Force and Observers mission in the Sinai is the flag patch goes on the left shoulder. That patch is “Reversed” compared to the one typically worn on the right shoulder. Their flags look right when compared to normal flag display.
By the way, this is a fairly standard vexillographic principle, definitely not limited to the USA or to military applications. For example, here is the right side of an Air France jet, with the hoist side (blue) of the French national flag toward the front of the plane.
Of course many flags (Canada) have vertical-line symmetry, so both sides look the same and it doesn’t matter. Others (UK) have very subtle asymmetry, so most people don’t notice, but you’ll still find that serious/official applications follow the principle.
Crossed-flag “friendship” emblems are another familiar place where this principle comes into play. You might wish to display Greek/American affinity this way, or perhaps American/Greek this way. This proclaims Ivorian/Irish friendship, not double-Irishness.
I don’t know how official these color defs are; I just glanced at the the site, and there seems to be debate, certainly about the Irish one, undoubtedly because more people care, for one. But the crossed-flag example surely goes out of its way to distort one of the flags, it seems to me.
Well, the company making those little pins may not be too careful with the hues, given that they depict the USA stars as dots. But the approximately-correct colors will be in the right places.
