[Sharlene]

I am at a loss. About a year ago I had to find out the proper display protocol for the US flag our State flag and the Service Branch Flags. After several telephone calls from the "authorities" this is how I was told place the flags on a stage from left to right, facing the speaker...
US Flag/USA/USMC/USN/USAF/USCG/State/POW
all well and good, except I ran into a young Marine who demanded that the US Flag be in the middle, behind the speaker. I eventually had him take away the service branch and POW/MIA flags and just have the US Flag and the State Flag behind the podium. The list above was repeated to me several times as the proper way to display all of these flags across a stage, behind the podium...I had also read it somewhere (can't find the article now) that this is the proper way to display all of these flags. Please help me out and guide me to somewhere where I can actually see it in writing. Thanks!

[Peter Ansoff]

Hi, Sharlene -- welcome to the forum!

Each of the military services has its own regulations about flag display and precedence. Fortunately, most of them are pretty much similar. We'll use the Army Regulation (AR 840-10) as an example. Here is what it says about your situation:

"When a number of flags are displayed from staffs set in a line, the flag of the United States will be at the right; that is, to the left of an observer facing the display. However, if no foreign national flags are involved, the flag of the United States may be placed at the center of the line providing it is displayed at a higher level."

According to the same regulation, the order of precedence of the military flags is the way you listed it: Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard. However, it also says that the state flag comes *before* the service flags.

The bottom line is that your order is correct according to Army regulations, except for the state flag. If your Marine friend wants the US flag in the middle of the line, it should be higher than the other flags.

I hope this helps -- if not, let us know!

Peter Ansoff