Half-staff for war dead - part 2

"Why did we lower flags to half-mast for students and faculty killed in the Virginia Tech shootings but do not do the same for our fallen soldiers in the Middle East?" That's the question recently posed by Sgt. Jim Wilt from his Army outpost near Kabul, Afghanistan.

I noticed the blurb of this story over at Truthdig.com this morning, which also provided the link to Associated Press writer Alisa Tang's full story at Yahoo News:

KABUL, Afghanistan - An Army sergeant complained in a rare opinion article that the U.S. flag flew at half-staff last week at the largest U.S. base in Afghanistan for those killed at Virginia Tech but the same honor is not given to fallen U.S. troops here and in Iraq.

In the article issued Monday by the public affairs office at Bagram military base north of Kabul, Sgt. Jim Wilt lamented that his comrades' deaths have become a mere blip on the TV screen, lacking the "shock factor" to be honored by the Stars and Stripes as the deaths at Virginia Tech were.

"I find it ironic that the flags were flown at half-staff for the young men and women who were killed at VT, yet it is never lowered for the death of a U.S. service member," Wilt wrote.

He noted that Bagram obeyed President Bush's order last week that all U.S. flags at federal locations be flown at half-staff through April 22 to honor 32 people killed at Virginia Tech by a 23-year-old student gunman who then killed himself.

"I think it is sad that we do not raise the bases' flag to half-staff when a member of our own task force dies," Wilt said.

I not only think that's a sad fact, too, I also believe it's disgraceful that we don't do this.

I don't know whether they'll print it or not, but this morning I sent the following letter on this matter to the editor of The Bryan-College Station Eagle:

The 296th Texan was killed in Iraq on Saturday, Cpl. Ray Michael Bevel, 22, of Andrews, but Governor Perry has yet to order flags flow at half-staff in honor of any of them. Other state governors have done so, including the governors of Arkansas, Michigan, California, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Oregon, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, South Dakota, Connecticut and New Mexico.

Nothing in the Federal Flag Code prohibits the flying of the American flag at half-staff on each day an American soldier is killed in war. In fact, Governor Perry used his authority to order that flags at state buildings be flown at half-staff in memory of the shooting victims at Virginia Tech. Surely he has the authority to do the same thing each time a son or daughter of the Lone Star state is killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. Even some Texas cities and counties (Sunset Valley, San Antonio, Bexar County, and Fredericksburg for example) have lowered flags to half-staff in honor of the soldiers killed in Iraq from their areas. So why doesn't Governor Perry do so?

Yes, the last Monday in May is reserved each year to commemorate U.S. men and women who have died in military service to their country, but according to the Federal Flag Code, the flag is supposed to be flown at half-staff only until noon on Memorial Day. As I see it, our state and national flags should be flown for 24-hours at half-staff on federal, state, county and municipal properties on each and every day an American soldier looses his or her life in Iraq or Afghanistan.

I'll let you know if it gets published.