Standing for flag what 'cool kids' do

  • Published
  • By Chief Master Sgt. Robert Hughes
  • 60th Logistics Readiness Squadron
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  In 1975, after 24 years of dedicated service and the fall of Vietnam, my father retired from the United States Air Force.

I pretty much grew up in a military environment. I spent most of my adolescent and school years attending Department of Defense schools and as near as I can remember, we always seemed to live in military-provided housing wherever my dad was stationed.

Granted, things were different then, but one thing that has remained constant is the playing of the national anthem on military installations to signal the end of the duty day.

As a kid, whenever the national anthem would play, my dad would say, "Robert, stand still. Place your hand over your heart. Pay respect to the flag. It's important." He never really told me why it was important, but I knew people were dying in Vietnam every day under the banner of Old Glory and that was reason enough.

We weren't alone in our actions because, as if on cue, all the other kids and their parents would stop and do the exact same thing -- pay respect to the flag. It was a pretty cool thing to do and I was one of the cool kids; I was part of the in crowd.

As I grew older and was able to walk home from school on my own, whenever the national anthem would sound, I would heed my father's advice. I would stand still and place my hand over my heart. It was important.

What was truly amazing was that all the other kids walking home did the same thing and they did it without adult supervision. In fact, all the cars on the street would come to a halt and wait for the music to finish. I can still recall of several occasions, after having paid due respect to the flag, someone would yell out their car window and say, "Good job, kid." I still was pretty cool.

Years later, I joined the Air Force and attended basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. As new recruit, not only was I trained on how to render the proper respect to the flag, but my flight would practice it on almost a daily basis. I would stand at attention, render the proper salute and everyone around me would do the same thing. I was pretty cool, all the other recruits were pretty cool, too, and we knew it. As if by magic, this same behavior continued all the way through my technical training school. So, even after almost a year in the military, I was still part of the in crowd. I was still pretty cool.

Then something happened and I'm really not sure what, but, once assigned to a permanent duty station, it became quite commonplace for Airmen to take off running for cover whenever they heard the national anthem starting to play. Also, people began to check their watches and if it was getting close to the music sounding they would stay inside the building waiting for the music to start and end.

Make no mistake about it, Americans were still giving their lives for Old Glory, but now it wasn't cool to salute the flag. It wasn't the in thing to do.

In fact, what was cool was to warn people exiting the protective sanctuary of the building that the music was getting ready to play and that they should either remain inside or hurry and run to their car. Heck, you don't want to be out there for the next 1 minute and 30 seconds saluting, because that's not cool.

The new cool thing to do is remain inside and make fun of those too oblivious to the time of day not to venture outside or maybe, laugh at the Airman who walks out the door while the national anthem is playing and now has to stop and salute.

So, I guess I'm no longer cool and I'm no longer part of the in crowd. That's OK because I still have a choice. I choose to stand still. I choose to salute the flag. I choose not to let the masses dictate my actions. I choose not to live in fear of 1 minute and 30 seconds. I choose to do what I know is right. I choose to invite others outside to stand with me. I choose to be my own person and I guess in a way that makes me pretty cool.