# Sarah Palin's Red Star Pin

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-red-star-pin/501896>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 4, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-red-star-pin/501896 "2009-07-04T14:41:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-red-star-pin/501896/1 "2009-07-04T14:41:55Z")

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Does anyone know the meaning of the pin in [this picture](http://www.apimages.com/OneUp.aspx?st=k&kw=sarah%20palin&showact=results&sort=relevance&intv=24h&sh=10&kwstyle=and&adte=1246718099&dah=-1&pagez=20&nextdah=12%2C12%2C12%2C12%2C12%2C12%2C12%2C12%2C12%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX%2CX&rids=e1aad04016114f0882611326985befe0&dbm=PThirtyDay&page=1&xslt=1&dispname=090703020215%2C%20Palin%20Resigning) of Palin? (sorry about the AP watermarks, I couldn’t find a better shot.) Just to the right of the big black button.

A rectangle of red surrounding a white field with a single star in the center. Not the [state flag of Alaska](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Flag_of_Alaska.svg), as I first thought.

Any ideas?

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**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-red-star-pin/501896/2 "2009-07-04T14:48:14Z")

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Sounds like a [service flag](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_flag), which should mean she has a child in the US military if I understand it right.

Edit: [Here we go](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin#Personal_life), her oldest, Track, is in the US Army, deployed to Iraq.

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**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palins-red-star-pin/501896/3 "2009-07-04T14:50:45Z")

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That makes sense. (_She_ still doesn’t.)

Thanks.