Why Is The American Flag Backwards On Military Uniforms?

The U.S. military changes its uniforms every so often. Whenever this happens, servicemembers must go out and draw or purchase new gear, including everything from new boots to new military helmet covers. Alongside every new uniform is a series of patches, and with modern uniforms, they're almost all attached via "military grade" hook and loop fasteners (what civilians call "Velcro"). This makes swapping uniforms easier, but it also means that every so often, someone might throw a patch on upside-down without noticing.

It happens to most servicemembers at least once in their careers, and knowing this, an observer might assume someone put their American flag patch on incorrectly. That's because the flag on an American servicemember's uniform is backward. That is to say, the canton (the top left corner), which houses the blue field of 50 white stars, is in the upper right. To anyone familiar with the American flag, this isn't correct. Whenever Old Glory is hoisted on a flagpole, the canton is always on the side of the flagpole.

This might lead someone to either assume the servicemember put their flag patch on the wrong way or that the U.S. military screwed up its regulations and everyone is a bit off, as their flags are all flying the wrong way. As it happens, neither of these assumptions is true — the placement of the flag and position of the canton is 100% correct and within the regulations. Knowing this, one might wonder why the military chose to place its flag backward, and there's a simple explanation: it's not backward at all, but it's not an optical illusion — there's a reason it's depicted in the manner it is.

Most importantly, the flag is most certainly not flying backward; instead, it is facing in the correct direction. This is true if the flag is worn on the uniform's right shoulder (left when facing a servicemember in uniform). The location of the flag patch is what really matters because it concerns the abandoned tradition of carrying a flag into battle. During the American Civil War, it was considered a position of honor to carry the colors into battle. Denzel Washington's character in "Glory" had this honor, but the practice was abandoned in modern warfare.

These days, every servicemember carries a flag into battle, but instead of physically carrying a flagpole, they wear it as a patch on their right shoulder. Think about what it looks like to carry a flagpole with a flag into combat. The wind would push the flag in the opposite direction of the servicemember's movement. In this regard, the flag appears to be flying backward — because it is. The canton remains in the correct position on the flagpole, but the actual flag itself is blown back.

The same is true of the American servicemember's U.S. flag patch. While there's no flagpole hoisting it proudly in the air, it's still being carried forward into battle. As such, the flag is positioned so that it appears to be backward when it decidedly is not. So, the reason the American flag is backward on a military uniform is that it isn't backward — it's flying exactly how it would were it carried into battle, and because the U.S. military doesn't retreat (it withdraws), the flag will forever fly in such a manner.