I did not do as I usually do and originate the discussing on the use of the American Flag as a pack drape at Philmont. I did express my endorsement for the idea to move on to a Philmont flag instead of the American flag and to elevate the level of respect shown to our flag.
Furthermore, I agree that carrying the American Flag tied to the crew leaders pack is not disrespectful to the American Flag.
However, what happens to the American Flag when the pack is dismounted and the American Flag is dragged through the dirt, the mud, a lichen covered rock or log or leaned against a Ponderosa Pine is to my way of thinking disrespectful to the American Flag. I would not do it, but I would also not have a hissy fit toward one a little sloppy in my eyes. Much the same way I did not have a hissy fit at the way I observed crew leaders treat the American Flag at Philmont in 2002. I NEVER saw one folder properly.
I agree wholeheartedly with Terry Pogue. I grew up believing in Duty, Honor, Country and it was a privilege for me to serve my country as a combat medic in the United States Army during 1967 to 1969. When coming home on leave in uniform I was spat upon by cowardly citizens of our great country in airports, cursed, called a baby killer, you name it. Did I react the way that crowd wanted me to? No, I ignored them and thought of a passage from the bible, “forgive them for they know not what they do”.
That type behavior will never occur again to any U S Serviceman or servicewoman if I or a whole host of Vietnam era veterans can prevent it.
Tomorrow, I will be standing along the procession route at high noon in the ninety degree plus heat of the day to honor a fallen soldier from my hometown. I never knew him, but he deserves the respect he earned.
I will be carrying a 48 star American flag on a staff that my Scoutmaster brought home with him from service in the Soloman Islands in WWII. He gave it to me when I left the troop I grew up in to serve as Scoutmaster of another young troop who needed a leader. That troop had no equipment nor a flag.
Tomorrow I will not be waving that flag, I will not have it draped on anything. It will be on a staff with an Eagle on top and I will stand there at attention, steadfast like a rock to honor U S Army PFC Brandon Bobb who was killed in Iraq on July 27, 2007 by an IED.
I never knew Bobb. We were from different generations and different races, but we have in common a certain bond. We were from the same town, Port Arthur, Texas. We went to the same high school, Thomas Jefferson High School now renamed Memorial High School under a U S Court desegration order. We walked the same halls, sat in the same classrooms and showered in the came gym after a sweaty workout that helped us transition from boys to men.
But the most important bond is we were both U S Army soldiers. I in the 1960's and he some forty years later in the 2000's. We served at different times fighting different threats to our country, but threats all the same. Were we heroes? I wasn’t, just a soldier doing his duty. Bobb was. He gave all he had to give.
Right how his family is suffering a great loss and though they do not feel it now, somehow I hope they reach that peace /knowing he did not die in vain.And somehow my standing rock solid like the soldier I once was and the soldier their son was also, I hope to enable them to reach that peace a little sooner and a little easier. I think I can make a difference. I’m definitely going to try.
My old Scoutmaster gave me that flag for the new troop and then proceeded to weed out excess equipment for the new troop. That meant a lot to me. It meant even more to the boys in that troop who came from not so well to do families. It meant they had a flag to say the pledge of allegiance to at the beginning of the troop meeting. It meant they got to go camping in tents just like the rest of the troops in town.
I have taken good care of that flag. It deserves it. It was first displayed from the staff of an unknown U S Marine as he went ashore on one of the Soloman Islands. Just before he transitioned from the water to the beach, he was shot and killed and the flag went down with him. My Scoutmaster, a native of Denmark who personally knew “Green Bar Bill” Hilcourt and personally met Baden Powell at a world jamboree just before WWII broke out was an unarmed photographer in the U S Navy SeaBees picked up that flag and carried it ashore. He flew it from his pill box darkrooms on many of the islands throughout the rest of the war.
Some twenty five years later, he gave it to me to use.
I have displayed it properly several times at Fourth of July celebrations telling of it's history and the part it played in preserving the freedon we all enjoy today.
I have flown it on special occasions. I have never flown it in the rain. I have never flown it at night. I have never used it to drape anything nor will I. It may be used to cover the casket of any WWII veteran who desires. That's a fitting service of this particular American Flag.
Sorry, I got off on another tract there for a moment but you get the idea.
But tomorrow it will be properly displayed along the procession route for U S Army PFC Brandon Bobb.
Well what does this have to do with the crew leaders flag? Each of us shows respect to others and to our nation in a different way and we need to respect the other person for their expression of hopes, desires and wishes.
I have my own opinions, but I stand steadfast that dragging the American Flag across a dirty log or through the dust, dirt or mud when de-packing at Philmont just lacks a little something. I stand steadfast that wadding it up like a bandana and stuffing it into a pack pocket for the night just lacks a little something. I think there is a better way and I think the time for change just might be now. For certain change is the only thing that is constant in our lives. I could go on and on and on to illustrate this, but you already know of it anyway.
Norman Rockwell would have never painted the American Flag draped on the back of a Boy Scout pack. Maybe on a staff that Scout carried high and proudly, but never draped on the pack and if it’s good enough for Norman Rockwell, it’s good enough for me.
In September I'll be carrying the American flag with me at Philmont as others will on our Autumn Adventure, but I assure you where I will not be carrying the Amercian Flag is tied across the back of my pack. That's where I will be carrying my newly washed hiking socks to dry just like Colin Fletcher did on all his backpacking treks.
And somehow the American Flag deserves a little more than to be displayed hanging from a clothesline.
No, I don't need to hang my socks out to dry on my pack, but it's my way of showing respect for Colin Fletcher. He was one of my mentors. He just recently died. I learned a lot from his writings, but most importantly I learned that you don't have to be a star athlete to be good at backpacking and enjoy camping in remote places. Like him, a short, stocky, middle aged old fart can do just fine and that's what I do and enjoy!
See you on the trail.
John LeBlanc
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Received on Fri Jul 27 11:18:29 2007
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