Apr 24 2006
Lower the damn flag.
Some discussion on the news about the Conservative governments decision not to lower the flag to honour the 4 Canadian Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan last Friday.
Not a lot of time on my hands here, but lets say that as far as I am concerned the flag should be lowered each and every time a Canadian soldier dies in the service of our country. Precious little respect is shown these men and women while they are alive, let’s not skip this simple sign of respect when they’ve made the ultimate sacrifice.
Corporal Matthew Dinning
Corporal Randy Payne
Bombardier Myles Mansell
Lieutenant William Turner
Gone, not forgotten.
You’re right, of course. Seems like a weird thing for your man, Harper, to decide to do. After all, they were positioning themselves, during the election, as the supporters of the Forces.
You gotta look on the bright side, though … according to the CBC article you linked to, the Canadians are being backed up by Estos!
I have to disagree with you on this one brother. The flag isn’t traditionally lowered for soldiers. The more the flag is lowered the less significance the act has. I have tremendous respect for the men and women in the forces but I think making rememberance day a statutory holiday would be a better way to honour them.
Hmmm, well Ian, you wore the uniform after all.
My point is this, if we lower the flag for the death of a politician, then shouldn’t we extend the same respect to a member of our armed forces who has died in the line of duty?
I agree we can extend this to ludicrous ends, with the flag flying at half mast around the country due to the death of a favorite pooch in Ottawa, but in this case I feel it’s appropriate.
Take it for what it’s worth, but I still feel the flag should be flown at half mast when a soldier dies. Considering we have lost a few hundred soldiers since Korea, I don’t think it’s that much of a thing to ask.
[Edited to add: A complete list of Canadian Casualties in Afghanistan is available.]
It is forgotton that the Liberals were the ones that started the recent practice of lowering the flag for our fallen soldiers. I think that the best way to honour our fallen is to provide live soldiers with decent kit and support. I have regimental buddies over in the desert right now. Decent equipment like tac vests that can hold more than 4 mags, our own medium lift choppers and new patrol vehicles can help minimize casualties. Just my 2 cents
Dan makes a good point, but frankly I’m unconcerned with who started the practice, honestly I feel that we should be lowering the flag whenever a soldiers dies in the service of our country.
Thankfully it is not a daily occurence, but I still feel it should be recognized.
More importantly Dans suggestion as to the kit issued our troops has merit. We (the general public) assume they deploy with standard military kit sufficient to the task, and tend to forget that their equipment is designed, selected and manufactured with typical government efficiency.
While I don’t think the two issues are directly related, the equipment our troops deploy with can mean the difference between life or death, and the flag issue is merely one of respect for our dead.
Dan, can you direct us to some program or resource that would provide some information on the kit our troops have, and reported deficiencies with them?
My point is this, if we lower the flag for the death of a politician, then shouldn’t we extend the same respect to a member of our armed forces who has died in the line of duty?
I’d like to think that simply honouring the soldier differently than we honour a mere politician is the greatest tribute that could be made.
I understand that you don’t care who changed the tradition, but consider that the Liberals didn’t make the policy to lower the flags everytime a soldier died at work, they merely made it so that if there was a political opportunity to be made by lowering it, they would lower it. The old tradition of lowering the flag for all soldiers on November 11th meant that even Pvt. Bloggins who got run over by the runaway porta-potty delivery truck got honoured, while the Liberal set up only honour those who fit the right criteria of how they died, where they were from and the political climate of the day.
Oh I understand the policy was changed to gain some political mileage. I’m just unconcerned about that, I think it is right and well that the flag be lowered.
This is seperate from rememberance day in my view, which honours all soldiers, and should still be in effect.
I’m afraid I still don’t see a reason to not lower the flag when a soldier is killed in the line of duty.
How about we keep it lowered all of the time…
Or at least until the Leafs win the cup again…
Dammit Gary, who let you near the computer again?
Got a note from the doctor…
Damn quacks…
-GRIN-
Two excellent web sites are Army.ca and CASR DND 101. Army.ca is a unofficial canadian army forum and CASR is a SFU think tank. check em out. What about the soldiers that die in accidents and such. Do we just lower the flag for enemy combat and friendly fire? I think that we should just lower the flag for soldiers on Nov 11 and when a victoria cross winner dies.
“What about the soldiers that die in accidents and such. Do we just lower the flag for enemy combat and friendly fire?”
Already answered…
“the flag should be lowered each and every time a Canadian soldier dies in the service of our country.”
Try to keep up with the tour folks…
So why then an exception for VC winners? Why not just restrict the lowering of the flag to November 11th.
I’m sorry folks, I’ve stated my opinion on the matter, and I’ve yet to hear any solid reasoning against it. If it’s a cost-prohibitive measure and would divert funds from more essential outlays I can understand it, if it somehow cheapens the display then I can understand it, but as it stands I do not understand why this would be opposed.
Feel free to enlighten me, I’m positively burning with curiousity.