A military question
 

Hey guys,

I was wondering, I've seen a few bits of footage involving American soldiers/pilots with the flags on their uniforms attached by velcro, or removed completely. Is this because if the unit crashes or is captured, it isnt so easy to trace it?

:hmm:

I'm not sure about that one..

I always thought at least down under that it was removable when on active ops. But blue tends to stand out a bit in the bush when you're wearing auscams.

For the American there are other things that can be stuck there on the velcro patches. There are these IR (infa red) visibility patches that help ID American troops from IR in the air to avoid friendly fire. In the old days ( 14 years ago when I was in ) they used to be a strip that went around your arm like velcro, it looked like relfective duct tape, but it is for IR. Those came off easier than the new rig.

The American flags and whatnot are probably just put there when nothing else needs to be there. I could be wrong because I don't keep up with it, but that is where my money is.

The idea behind the Velcro was the reduction of cost to soldiers for uniforms, so a single set of name/branch tapes, unit patches, and flags, can be used on multiple uniforms, rather than having to buy each one individually for each uniform to be sown on. Or so goes the story with the ACU.
As for the Pilot Uniform, I believe that unit identifaction was part of it, not that the wreckage wasn't enough. Also there was a removable panel, that still may exist, promising payment for assistance of downed airmen.

In 05-06 we had velcro IR strips that were looped around the shoulder epaulets and helmet bands. The USMC does not use flag emblems as a device on any combat uniform.

I seem to remember the Army having some, but whether they were IR reflective or not I couldn't say.

The reversed US Flag was added in 2004 to the Army BDU, and carried over to the ACU. There are three variants, one is required. One is the regular color to be worn in garrison. There is a IR variant and a subdued variant, however I don't believe that is a required item.

AR 670-1