U.S soldiers wearing flag backwards?

I noticed that the american flag these soldiers are wearing, has the stars on the RIGHT side of the flag. I thought that it may have simply been that aljazeera mirrored the image when they aired it, however, a few minutes into the video, you can clearly see text facing the correct way, whilst the flag is still backwards.
Is there any significance to wearing the flag the wrong way around? Is this another branch of the 'martial law flag'?


[edit on 7/5/2009 by nrky]

reply to post by nrky


That is exactly as the flag should be worn, it is meant to indicate that the flag is always moving forward into battle, if it were the other way it would indicate retreat.

Think of soldier with a flag on a pole facing a battle, the flag facing battle.

Make sense?

If that is the case, wouldn't it mean that the interests of the american military and those of the general populace, are completely at odds?
If the military salutes a flag of progression in battle, where as the people salute one of retreat from battle, why have we not got a civil war on our hands?

Where have you been? It's not exactly something new.

reply to post by nrky


If a soldier is standing facing you slightly to your right with a flag on a pole, looking at the flag would have the same positioning as the one worn on their right sleeves.

It is not a conspiracy, it is just the way it is done.

It is all a matter of perspective.

reply to post by nrky


It's not that our interests are at odds with the civilians in the US, it's more of a symbolic thing. We are currently in a state of conflict (and I'm not here to debate the legality, morality or anything else) and as such, the flag is worn as it would have been carried when our troops went into battle back in the day.

That is all.

It's been like that since I came in the Army back in 2002. Nothing sinister, its just a symbolic thing.

reply to post by nrky


I dont think so. It is one of a million subtle ways you try to display power to your enemy. It wasnt designed for the US citizen, it was designed for battle.

thank you!!!! I got into a debate a few months back with some one, they totally tore me apart , needless to say I acclimated to defeat. It's nice to see others have pondered this. Perhaps it is a mater of perceptive and means nothing but who knows now days

[edit on 7-5-2009 by OpusMarkII]

Originally posted by nrky
If that is the case, wouldn't it mean that the interests of the american military and those of the general populace, are completely at odds?
If the military salutes a flag of progression in battle, where as the people salute one of retreat from battle, why have we not got a civil war on our hands?

The time to open your eyes is if they are wearing it upside down as that would be a bad sign.

Edit: Or could be a good sign I guess depending on what you believe or want to believe but upside down is when questions really need to start being asked.

[edit on 7-5-2009 by Darthorious]

The flag being shown that way is just tradition. It goes back to the medival days when flags were carried by knights. We salute because of tradition from the same era.

It has nothing to do with how much the US likes war or thats how the flag looks when carried in battle.

To clarify a little bit, as I read it described in another thread, since the flag is mounted to a pole by the edge with the starts, the flag is worn as if it would be seen with the wind blowing in the face of a soldier(or police cruiser) as they move forward.
'Move along, nothing to see here.'

Originally posted by nrky
I noticed that the american flag these soldiers are wearing, has the stars on the RIGHT side of the flag. I thought that it may have simply been that aljazeera mirrored the image when they aired it, however, a few minutes into the video, you can clearly see text facing the correct way, whilst the flag is still backwards.
Is there any significance to wearing the flag the wrong way around? Is this another branch of the 'martial law flag'?

Whoa pal, no need for the "Martial Law" antics here. The "Backwards" Flag served, and does serve, at least two well known purposes. The First and foremost purpose began as a way to reduce the issue that was occurring with enemy forces dressing up in counterfeit U.S. MIL fatigues. The flags that these opposing forces were wearing had the typical Right-Facing/Forward Facing "Stars and Stripes", and by implementing a simple cost-effective switch, such as they did, they dramatically cut down on the aforementioned problem.

Second, the Left-Facing version of the "Stars and Stripes" denotes a wind whipped Flag, and in the direction/manner which it is placed, it further denotes a quickly advancing force.

So there you go, the Left-Facing U.S. Flag worn on the arms of our U.S. MIL Personnel serves as both a Practical component, and a Sentimental one as well.

I hope that answers your question, and allays any concerns you may have.

I wasn't even aware of details like the flag being sown on a sleeve so that it appears backward. I would never have even noticed that. But one thing I sure did notice was the US Marines hoisting the Canadian flag at the Olympics. They didn't hoist it backwards. They hoisted it upside down. Now that was significant. Do you have any idea how much that pissed off Canadians? Oh, I can't tell you how much smoke there was coming out of ears up here. It's a sign of a country in trouble. And Canada wasn't in trouble with anybody except our neighbor to the south who we'd be sparkin' with again over some silly issue. Jesis Kreist, it's amazing how many times the USA does something to push Canada around and Canada pushes right back. It's just like a couple of 9 and 10 year old brothers. Oh well.... that flag issue is water under the bridge. But we still remember.

[edit on 7-5-2009 by Albertarocks]

Thanks for all the responses, guys!
I created this thread so that I could hint at the possibility of there being a sinister symbolic purpose for the flag being worn backwards.
Unfortunately nobody has yet posted an analysis of the american flag and the importance of it's symbolisms to the Illuminati and Freemasons, so I guess I'll have to find one and post it later on then.

I love the number of posts along the lines of "where have you been living, in a cardboard box?". I live in Australia, we aren't constantly hammered with imagery of the american military, so we don't see all their symbolisms. That just shows how uninfluential american martial culture is in Australia.