Alamo City Hosts US Flag Retirement Ceremony with VFW

The city of Alamo hosted a retirement ceremony for United States flags on September 26 in the city’s flower garden.

“We all live under that banner of the American flag, and according to the standards of love, and brotherhood and unity,” said Russ Little, a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW).

The retirement ceremony was conducted with the assistance of the VFW Post 10229, commanded by Ric Robin, and local Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) students. In addition to retiring city-owned flags, residents were also invited to attend and bring their own flags in need of retirement.

Retiring United States flags is a part of “flag etiquette,” a term referring to the proper procedure and treatment of the American flag. According to Robin, flag etiquette’s role in the VFW’s services is to honor the United States flag, as well as the armed forces who served under it. 

“They serve that flag,” said Robin. “Paying respects to that flag is paying respect to them, is paying respect to our history.”

As part of the retirement ceremony, flags were folded 13 times, with each fold representing an aspect of American and Christian values and aspects of service in the armed forces, eventually resulting in a triangle shape. After the pledge of allegiance and a posting of colors by the color guard, the flags were then burned in a burn barrel.

“The process we used to dispose of the flags, there’s a couple of different ways, but the one we did the other day, we burned them,” said Robin.

In addition to honoring the flag, the ceremony also served as a learning experience for the JROTC students who assisted.

“We use that time to teach them what they’re doing, why they’re doing it, and they can pass it on to their friends,” said Robin.

Facilitating events such as Alamo’s flag retirement ceremony is one aspect of the VFW’s broader goal of service to the nearby communities. Service is even a requirement for continued membership with the organization.

“We are here to serve,” said Robin. “You’re not done serving until you’re being served.”

According to Russ Little, this culture of service stems from veterans’ training and experiences in the armed forces. Little is a former member of the United States Air Force and a veteran of the Vietnam War, and he linked the sense of service instilled in him from that time as a reason why he “fell in love with the organization.”

In addition to servicing the community, VFW also assists veterans with gaining access to their benefits, or “compensation” as Robin prefers to call them. According to Robin, many younger veterans are unaware of the compensations they have access to, such as the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center in Dublin and disability rates. 

“So, we find a lot of the time the young vets around here don’t know that they’re entitled to anything,” said Robbins. “They don’t know that they can just go up to Dublin to the VA hospital and get medical care, dental care. Don’t know that.”

So, the members of VFW assist these veterans by sharing their knowledge of these resources. While they cannot directly assist with every matter, Robin said they can place veterans in contact with the correct individuals and organizations.

“We may not have the ability, but we have the knowledge, and we can get you in touch with the person that has the ability to help do anything,” said Robin.