I’m writing right now on a subject that I’ve been saying for over 30 years. We should always fly our flags daily, not simply the 4th of July. I’ve 3 flags on flag poles and one flag wrap on the again of my truck. Hopefully, the information under will encourage you to fly a flag.
What’s In This Information
On this information: How I Received Began Flying 365 · What the Flag Code Truly Says · The Gear I Have Examined (and What Lasted) · The place I Fly (Each Properties, the Workplace, the Ranch Truck) · Fashionable Etiquette: Half-Employees, Climate, Lighting · What the Veterans Organizations Say · The Fourth of July Take a look at · Backside Line
How I Received Began Flying 365
I’ve been flying the flag 12 months a yr for the higher a part of three many years. I’m not a veteran. I’ve by no means worn the uniform. I’m a daily American — small-business proprietor, passion rancher, ham radio operator, husband to Cheryl for 37 years, dad to 2 boys, and present handler of two canines who would love me to get on with breakfast. My authority right here isn’t army service. It’s love of nation, gratitude for the individuals who did serve, and a variety of time exterior wanting up on the identical piece of fabric from a variety of totally different porches.
My flag behavior began the best way a variety of flag habits begin — with a chunk of low-cost {hardware} from a ironmongery store and a chunk of fabric that didn’t survive the primary winter. I purchased a 3×5 cotton flag on the farm retailer in 1996, put it on a house-mount bracket on the entrance porch of our first place, and watched it shred itself within six months. Cotton is ok for ceremonial or indoor show. Outdoors, in a spot that will get exhausting wind, it’s a one-season buy.
The left image was 12 years in the past after we put in the flower mattress and flagpole, the best is 12 years later, identical pole, no points
These photos are from our Olympia home, the place our first flagpole was put in 12 years in the past. The left image is after we put in the brand new flower beds and flagpole and the best is a latest picture. It is a 20ft telescoping pole, with the celebrities and stripes on high. On this one we do not have a LED gentle ring on the high, so we beam up a light-weight from the mattress space that comes on and stays on all night time.
The title image above is the ranch dwelling in Montana. Twenty-foot telescoping flagpole. Stars and Stripes catching the morning wind a few foot and a half under the LED gentle ring on high. This pole was put in 2 years in the past, and we get about 2 years of life on this flag due to the intense wind and climate at 5400 ft elevation. The flagpole itself has held up nice, word the 4 purple rings across the backside, that is for snow measurement, one per foot!
This one is the latest, put in at our new workplace constructing final week. Its a telescoping 30 ft pole however has the standard rope for decreasing and elevating the flag. Once more, a LED gentle ring on the high.
The ranch truck doesn’t run a pole — the 2026 Ram 3500 we constructed final fall wears a Kryptonite Kustomz patriotic American flag wrap on the bedside and rear quarters, distressed stars up high, light stripes flowing to the again, in the identical ceramic grey as the remainder of the physique. Kryptonite laid it in Oklahoma over a weekend, and it has held up by means of the Montana winter, two hailstorms, and some hundred miles of dust roads with out peeling or fading.
So, if you’ll fly a flag, we have to cowl what the Flag Code really says about on a regular basis flying (4 U.S.C. Chapter 1, Sections 6 and seven), what the American Legion and the VFW say about doing it proper, the gear I’ve examined, the etiquette that issues (half-staff, climate, lighting), and why the opposite 364 days of the yr are value each bit as a lot because the Fourth.
What the Flag Code Truly Says
The principles of the highway are in 4 U.S.C. Chapter 1, the Federal Flag Code, initially handed in 1925 and up to date quite a lot of instances since. Two sections matter most for on a regular basis residential flying.
Part 6 — Time and events for show
Part 6(a) says the common customized is to show the flag solely from dawn to sundown on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs within the open. It shouldn’t be displayed on days when the climate is inclement, besides when an all-weather flag is used. Part 6(b) is the one most individuals miss: when a patriotic impact is desired, the flag could also be displayed 24 hours a day if correctly illuminated throughout the midnights.
That’s the authorized foundation for flying the flag daily. Dawn to sundown is the default. Twenty-four hours a day is allowed for those who gentle it correctly after darkish. That’s it. There is no such thing as a rule that claims the flag comes down after the Fourth of July, or Memorial Day, or Flag Day, or another day. The Flag Code is a listing of issues to do — when to fly, how one can fly, how one can retire the flag. It isn’t a calendar.
Part 7 — Place and method of show
Part 7 is the longer one. It covers how the flag needs to be displayed relative to different flags (the U.S. flag will get its personal pole or the place of honor when on the identical pole), the way it needs to be raised and lowered (at all times briskly, by no means ceremonially run up or down), and the way it ought to by no means contact the bottom beneath or beside the workers. Part 7(okay) additionally covers half-staff, which we are going to get to in a couple of paragraphs.
The total textual content is on the Cornell Regulation web site and the American Legion’s flag web page. Each are value a bookmark. The American Legion additionally publishes a clear PDF of flag etiquette that I carry on the workbench within the store.
The Gear I Have Examined (and What Lasted)
I’m a gear man. The reader who has been right here some time is aware of that. I purchase issues twice on goal — as soon as to fail, as soon as to truly hold. The flag {hardware} I’ve caught with for years is on this listing. Nothing right here is sponsored. These are the manufacturers and the precise merchandise I went again to.
The Flags
For residential poles, I run Valley Forge U.S. nylon flags. Their 3×5 and 4×6 heavy-weight nylon has held up higher than the rest I’ve tried. The 4×6 is what’s on the ranch and Olympia houses proper now. For a finances possibility that also will get the job executed, the Annin Flagmakers Powerful-Tex is a polyester different that handles wind and rain with out bleeding coloration. For the heaviest-gauge premium possibility, the Eder Flags Endura-Line is essentially the most weatherproof American-made flag I’ve examined.
The Telescoping Flagpole
I run a Service First Merchandise telescoping 20-foot pole on the ranch in Montana and the identical at our dwelling in Washington. We not too long ago added a 30-foot model on the new workplace. Telescoping is the best name for residential — no ropes to fuss with, no truck wanted for set up, comes down in 5 minutes if a storm is coming. The 20-foot model has survived 60 mph gusts with out criticism, which isn’t nothing on this a part of Montana.
Lighting for 24-Hour Show
Part 6(b) permits you to fly 24 hours a day for those who gentle the flag correctly after darkish. The most cost effective approach to try this for a residential pole is a solar-powered dusk-to-dawn flagpole gentle. I run one of many 600-lumen fashions on all 3 flag poles I’ve. It factors down from the highest of the pole and lights the flag from about 12 inches above. It’s vibrant sufficient to learn the flag on the highway, dim sufficient that the neighbors haven’t complained.
Half-Employees {Hardware}
Decreasing the flag to half-staff on a telescoping pole is simple. On a hard and fast halyard pole you want both a cleat or a half-staff clip — I hold a Valley Forge half-staff clip set within the store drawer. They snap onto the truck of the halyard on the proper top and maintain the flag in place.
Fashionable Etiquette: Half-Employees, Climate, Lighting
Three issues matter past simply placing the flag up.
Half-Employees Guidelines
The U.S. flag flies at half-staff when proclaimed by the President (for federal buildings) or the Governor (for state grounds), and historically on Memorial Day till midday, on Peace Officers Memorial Day, and on a handful of different dates. Once you decrease to half-staff, the best sequence is hoist briskly to the highest first, then decrease slowly to the half-staff place. When taking the flag down on the finish of the day, hoist again to the highest first, then decrease. Skipping the up-first step is the only commonest half-staff mistake. The U.S. Division of Veterans Affairs publishes the official half-staff calendar yearly. I examine it the primary of every month.
Climate Guidelines
Part 6(a) says the flag shouldn’t be displayed on days when the climate is inclement, until an all-weather flag is used. All-weather on this context means nylon or polyester. A budget cotton flags I used to purchase would shred themselves in a stiff breeze and bleed purple onto the porch within the rain. Fashionable nylon is made for this. I depart the ranch flag up in something wanting a named storm or sustained 50+ mph winds. When a storm is coming, the telescoping pole comes down in about 5 minutes.
Lighting Guidelines
For those who fly the flag at night time, gentle it. The accepted normal is sufficient gentle to acknowledge the flag’s colours from an inexpensive distance. The solar-powered flagpole lights I run put out about 600 lumens aimed up the pole, which is greater than sufficient for a 3×5 or 4×6 flag. When you’ve got a porch gentle that already shines on the flag, that counts. Part 6(b) is a permission slip to fly 24/7, not an excuse to fly an unlit flag at nighttime.
What the Veterans Organizations Say
Two organizations I look to on this are the American Legion and the Veterans of Overseas Wars. Each have public flag etiquette pages that mirror the Federal Flag Code and add sensible steering from many years of post-and-cemetery flag work. Neither group says the flag ought to come down after the Fourth of July. Each would let you know the other.
The American Legion’s flag web page places it cleanly: the Flag Code states the flag is usually displayed from dawn to sundown, however it could be flown 24 hours a day whether it is correctly illuminated at night time. That’s the solely rule that governs on a regular basis show. The VFW’s flag etiquette web page makes the identical level in numerous phrases — there isn’t any rule that the flag comes down besides when it’s so worn it’s now not a becoming emblem of show, at which level it needs to be retired, ideally in a Boy Scouts of America flag retirement ceremony.
I feel loads in regards to the women and men who served beneath that flag. I’ve frolicked at Nationwide Cemetery Administration websites and I’ll let you know, a flag that’s flown daily, and retired correctly when it’s worn out, is a extra sincere tribute than a flag that comes out twice a yr and will get saved in a closet the remainder of the time.
The Fourth of July Take a look at
Right here is the take a look at. For those who solely fly the flag on the Fourth of July, you’re saying the flag is a one-day ornament. For those who fly it daily, you’re saying it’s one thing else — a every day reminder of the nation you reside in, the individuals who constructed it, the individuals who have defended it, and the on a regular basis work that retains it going. Each are sincere positions. Mine is the second.
The Fourth of July continues to be the massive present. We grill, we gentle off the authorized stuff, the boys come over with the canines, and the flag is true there the entire time. However the work of being an American isn’t a one-day occasion. It’s the Tuesday in February when the wind is 40 mph and the ranch flag continues to be snapping. It’s the wet morning whenever you keep in mind to convey it in. It’s the night time you keep in mind to retire the outdated one and put up the brand new one. That’s the type of on a regular basis consideration that, I feel, makes the massive day imply what it’s imagined to imply.
Backside Line
When you’ve got been on the fence about flying the flag daily, right here is the brief model. The Flag Code permits you to. The American Legion and the VFW each endorse it. The gear is affordable, the etiquette is learnable, and the work is small. Two nylon flags, a telescoping pole, a photo voltaic gentle, and the behavior of checking the half-staff calendar as soon as a month. That’s about it.
If you wish to learn the principles straight from the supply, the Federal Flag Code is on the Cornell Regulation web site. If you would like a neighborhood ceremony for retiring a worn flag, your nearest Boy Scouts of America troop will often run one twice a yr. And if you wish to drop by a put up and shake a hand, each American Legion put up and VFW put up within the nation is open to veterans, household, and the civilians who wish to assist them.
Outdated Glory, 4 places, daily of the yr. It is among the most cost-effective issues I do as a citizen and one of many ones I’m most happy with. As of the morning I’m penning this, all 4 are flying. The date isn’t the Fourth of July.
For those who take pleasure in posts like this, you would possibly just like the writeup of our Transamerica Path journey within the Subaru Crosstrek — identical taste of on a regular basis American journey, simply with much more miles. Or the Overland Expo PNW 2026 protection from Redmond if you wish to see the type of flag setup the present rigs run. And in order for you extra ham radio speak (the Outdated Miss Internet runs each night and I examine in most nights), the Journey Cell HF Information is true right here.
Be secure on the market. Fly the flag.
Concerning the Creator
Brent Conklin (W7BR)
Proprietor of Whiskey7backroads. Ham Radio further class operator, frequent the Outdated Miss Internet most evenings. I’ve been married 37 years to Cheryl — now we have two boys, two canines, and a ranch in Montana the place the flags are up earlier than espresso each morning of the yr. That is the put up I’ve wished to write down for a few decade, and the Flag Code lastly gave me a motive to sit down down and do it correctly.
