Sorry for the late posting, folks, but sometimes real life and work intrudes.<\/p>\n
That said, I’d like to point y’all towards a new debate going on some of the MilBlogs.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Sgt. Hook<\/a>, here’s an interesting discussion<\/a> over at Blackfive<\/a> about how military veterans should render honors to the flag. The issue started with an email from retired Major General Vernon B. Lewis:<\/p>\n I gathered some 16 of my old military friends who agreed to sponsor a movement for Veterans to salute rather than place their hands over their heart when honoring the flag, fallen comrades, and\/or the country. I have some from each of the four principal services. Three of them were former Vice Chiefs or Assistant Commandants of their services, and several were former CINC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s.<\/p>\n We refer to saluting when we do the pledge to the flag, when the National Colors pass or are presented, when the National Anthem or honors are played, or when taps are played and firing squads or guns render honors.<\/p>\n […]<\/p>\n Just imagine thousands of fans salutiing at NFL, MBA, and Major League Baseball games when the National Anthem is plalyed. It will telegraph a message to all others of how many have served this country in the Armed Forces\u00e2\u20ac\u201dit will be a positive and patroitic message.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n My initial thoughts were in line with Sgt. Hook’s, so start there. After that, however, I feel less sold on the idea as Hook seems. Go through the comments at Blackfive; there are compelling arguments for both sides. Feel free to chime in if you wish.<\/p>\n Here’s my worthless two bits on the matter: I’d love to feel justified in saluting and rendering due honor to the colors again. However, I would not like to pretend that I am sacrificing in my life today like those currently in uniform. Also, contrary to some of the positive comments at Blackfive and Major General Lewis, I would not want it to be an issue of drawing attention to the person or total number of persons saluting; instead, I would rather feel that it is an earned opportunity to signify honor to the republic in a different but accepted manner, a manner I miss.<\/p>\n If it was in general acceptance that veterans should salute, I would comply happily. Until then, I will go with what seems appropriate to a mix of how I’ve been raised and my military training. While at attendance in a couple of weeks at my first Frisco Roughriders game of the season, I will stand as always during the national anthem in a modified position of attention — hat over heart, facing the flag. And wanting to salute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sorry for the late posting, folks, but sometimes real life and work intrudes. That said, I’d like to point y’all towards a new debate going on some of the MilBlogs. Courtesy of Sgt. Hook, here’s an interesting discussion over at Blackfive about how military veterans should render honors to the flag. The issue started with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-military"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1446\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}