Protocol Manual Update, AFI 90-1201 Replaces AFI 34-1201

In October of 2024, the Air Force furthered the coverage of instructions and other regulations to include AFI 34-1201. It is now DAFI, Department of the Air Force Instruction, 90-1201 aligning it under the AF Policy Directive 90 series. Did artificial “intelligence” write this? Because this is really bad.

By including the “D” (Department of the) in front of AFI (Air Force Instruction), the application of the instruction is for both the USAF and USSF. There are now letter “D’s” at the front of many abbreviations for instructions, manuals, pamphlets, etc. Download DAFI 90-1201 from the Resources page.

I appreciate the update! I do, but the wording is poor in areas and there is a severe lack of standardization and almost completely abandoning DoD flag standards. Here is a brief summary from DeVaughn Simper, Professor Flag, on social media.

From Professor Flag

The DAFI 90-1201 (8 October 2024) provides comprehensive guidance on protocol and customs for the Air Force and Space Force, replacing the previous AFI 34-1201 (18 August 2020). The instruction expands on flag protocols, ceremonies, distinguished visitor handling, gifts, and mementos, aligning with the Department of the Air Force Policy Directive (DAFPD) 90-12.

Key Updates:

1. Expanded Guidance on Flag Protocol:
   • Includes specific regulations for U.S., POW/MIA, state, and international flags, both indoors and outdoors.
   • Detailed procedures for half-staff displays and event-specific flag use.
2. US Space Force (USSF) Integration:
   • Incorporates Space Force-specific customs, courtesies, and organizational flags.
   • Distinct guidance on displaying and handling Space Force flags, streamers, and guidons.
3. Ceremonies and Social Functions:
   • Revised procedures for official ceremonies and events like senior leader changes of command, which now include Space Force protocols.
   • Updated guidance for organizing official social functions, including receiving lines, seating arrangements, and attire.
4. Gifts and Mementos:
   • Updated rules on gift giving and receiving, including authorized purchases for coins and other memorabilia.
5. Event Planning and Management:
   • New instructions for managing protocols at events, including attendee lists, seating charts, invitation management, and after-action reports.

Differences from AFI 34-1201:

• Inclusion of USSF: DAFI 90-1201 integrates USSF-specific guidance and distinguishes protocol practices for Air Force and Space Force members.
• Expanded Roles and Responsibilities: The protocol office’s roles now include a broader scope covering both services, and additional guidance is provided for program implementation, event management, and financial management related to official functions.
• Additional Flag Guidance: DAFI 90-1201 provides more detailed flag regulations, especially regarding the POW/MIA flag and international flag displays, as compared to the previous AFI which had fewer specifics.
• Modernized Social and Ceremonial Event Protocols: Enhanced clarity on the use of appropriated and non-appropriated funds and additional guidelines for planning events, such as uniform equivalency and customs related to Space Force attire and ceremonies.

Summary for JROTC Units:

The DAFI 90-1201 offers updated and comprehensive guidelines for handling flag protocols, ceremonies, and events involving both the Air Force and Space Force. For JROTC units, understanding these protocols is essential for ensuring proper conduct during official functions and ceremonies. This updated instruction emphasizes the importance of integrating Space Force customs and courtesies and provides extensive details on managing distinguished visitors, event coordination, and ceremonial flag displays. The DAFI builds on the foundations laid by AFI 34-1201, with expanded guidance that includes considerations specific to the Space Force and it modernizes procedures for current operational needs.

Rescind NOW!

Not double and triple checking information with Army standards (where we began) and ensuring text is as clear as possible is why there are Airmen around the USAF are using all kinds of unauthorized equipment. We need to go deeper.

By publishing this new AFI, the USAF has now completely confused thousands of Airmen, Guardians, and cadets. Did anyone run this by the Institute of Heraldry? I seriously doubt it. The TIOH, is the repository of US military history and standards. It never should have been published without a fresh set of eyes going over it. Tell you what, I will do that. You’re welcome. Rescind this manual, go back, and completely rework it.

There are many, many positives in the new version and to go over those would take longer than you and I want to spend on this article. I am only going over the negatives with a couple of positives in places. Here we go.

Flags

1. 2.3. Outdoor Flag Display, Sizes, and Occasions. 2.3.1. U.S. flags designed primarily for outdoor display will be made of nylon-wool or heavyweight nylon without fringe. [Please add the rest of a flag’s nomenclature! Describe the header band with brass grommets at the header end. You inform the reader of the meaning of hoist and fly in Attachment 1, but you never use the terms in the AFI. The text falls short. You should also describe how to mend an outside flag.]
2. 2.3.5.4. Commanders obtain instructions on the [add- use, display, and folding*] of flags in foreign countries from the office of the U.S. Defense Attaché located in the U.S. Embassy.

*Foreign national flags are usually folded into a rectangle or rolled.

Guidon Staff and Flagstaff Length

Guidons have been mounted to and carried on 8-foot staffs since the 1800s. We have never used the 7-foot staff for a guidon. By the way, any pole under 10’ is called a “staff” not a “pole”.

1. AFI 34-1201 (2020)
   • 2.34.1.3. Guidon. Flagstaffs for guidons are 8 feet in length plus the staff ornament.
2. AFI 90-1201 (2024)
   • 2.9.1.5. Guidon Flag. These flags are 1 foot 8 inches with a pole sleeve, by 2 foot 3 3/4 inches to the end of the swallowtail and forked six inches. Guidons are displayed on a 7-foot flagstaff.
   • 2.10.2. Flagstaffs for guidons are eight feet in length.

You have given two lengths of staff for the guidon within a handful of paragraphs. The linear distance is less than an 11” page! The standard is an 8’gudion staff, period.

1. 2.9.1.1. Ceremonial Flag. This flag is 4 feet 4 inches by 5 feet 6 inches with a pole sleeve. The flag is trimmed on three edges with fringe 2 inches wide (Space Force flag trim is 2½ inches wide). The flag is displayed on a 9-foot flagstaff.
2. 2.9.1.2. Organizational Flag. This flag is 3 feet by 5 feet with a pole sleeve. It is trimmed on three edges with rayon fringe 2 inches wide (Space Force flag trim is 2 ½ inches wide). The flag is displayed on a 7 -foot flagstaff, (8 or 9-foot flagstaff when displayed with larger flags).
3. 2.10.6. Ferrule*. The metal pointed bottom affixed to the flagpole, also known as a pike, is normally silver in color to match the finial, which is an additional length to the pole. The ferrule is not mandatory and changes the way a flag fits into a base or the overall height of the pole.

*There is an upper and lower ferrule to the guidon staff and flagstaff. The AFI wording, while poor and inadequate, now allows for the lower ferrule to be removed. Even with the lower ferrule removed, it is still not going to work. The bottom of the staff is tapered, the staff will still list to one side. Read this article to understand what a floor stand adapter is (a tube inserted into a stand) and how to use it. The adapter is the answer, not removing the lower ferrule.

Keep the three bullet points above in mind for the following. The Protocol AFI not fully defining terms is why we have base honor guard, ROTC, and JROTC units with different length staffs and flags mounted to staffs without fringe.

1. “Guidon staff” and “flagstaff” are general terms meaning the whole staff, the wood plus the metal ferrules and finial. I have worked with color guards since high school (1979) and no one has ever said “flagstaff” and then said something like “but only the wood, not the ferrules and finial.” The measurement is just the wood, but the wording in the AFI is terrible.
2. Since the USAF can use either the one- or two-piece staff, the middle screw joint of the two-piece staff replaces the wood of the one-piece staff and is counted in length.
3. The historical source document from the early 1900s where the USAF gets its information, AR 260-10 and then AR 840-10, states staff length is 8’ and 9’6” for the US military and Presidential staffs are 10’ long. The USAF added the 7’ staff for internally (AF/SF) posted colors only, not for carrying around for any ceremony and never for joint service.
4. Ash flagstaffs come in 7’, 8’, and 9’6” lengths. These flagstaffs began life as only for the military and therefore only those lengths are offered. You constantly use the term “9-foot flagstaff” because you are only measuring the wood? If so, then when you reference the 8-foot staff, you need to make the term 7’6” and for the 7′ staff, use 6’6″. However, that is just a complete mix-up of wording that confuses. Flagstaffs come in 7’, 8’, and 9’6” lengths. Stop using bad wording.
5. 2.9.1.2. now allows smaller flags to be mounted on a longer staff and displayed with larger flags. That leads to a mismatch in flag sizes in the same display. There was zero thought put forward here.

I have to break up the next partially incoherent quote of paragraph 2.10.1.

1. Flagstaffs are meant to carry a flag at full staff.

What? I mean that with all sincerity. What does that mean? Are you saying that the flag is attached to a flagstaff at the top and is never placed lower on the staff. Most people use the terms flagstaff and flagpole interchangeably when a flagstaff is only for indoor display or for carrying in a color guard and a flagpole is a permanent structure outside in the ground.

• Wooden flagstaffs can be one piece or a breakdown style

“Breakdown style”? You mean “two-piece”.

• and should be light ash in color.

Yes! I have to highlight this for everyone out there who has been such a thorn in my side, including an “HQ”. There you go, light ash wood guidon flagstaffs are the ONLY STAFF AUTHORIZED.

• Flagstaffs in darker wood colors should be replaced through attrition with the light ash color and all flagstaffs in a display should be the same color.

Those using the junk brown staffs are going to push this to the limits just like those still using the ball finial. This also means metal staffs are not authorized.

• Ensure all flags in a display are the same size and height.

You just said in 2.9.1.2. that an organizational flag can be displayed with a ceremonial flag! Per correct protocol, flag are ALWAYS the same size (US, state, territory, county, city, and military flags) or as close as possible (foreign, or US flags that are a different type, e.g. Ohio).

• For clarification, the size of the flagstaffs does not include the staff ornament, head, or finial.

This clarification does not matter at all because your measurements are off. “staff ornament, head, or finial” those three are the same thing. You may want to rewrite that for clarity to read “staff ornament (head or finial)” or “staff ornament/head/finial”.

1. 2.10.4. Eagle Ornament. It is by precedence the eagle finial be used only with the Presidential flag. However, if the U.S. flag is displayed with the Presidential flag, then both may have the eagle finial.

“It is by precedence”. That would be spelled “historic protocol” that the Presidential flags have the spread-eagle finial. It is not just the flag of the President; it is also the VP’s flag and the service departmental colors that are in the Oval Office. All of those 10-foot staffs are topped with the spread eagle.

“Both may have”? No, both will have the eagle finial. The USAF can do some internal things like adding the 7’ staff for a static display, what it cannot do is change higher protocol. All Presidential colors are topped with the spread eagle.

Breakdown of 2.10.6.

• Ferrule. The metal pointed bottom affixed to the flagpole

There are two ferrules on a flagstaff. There are zero ferrules on a flagpole. Stop using the terms interchangeably. A ferrule is attached to wood to prevent splitting.

• also known as a pike

Erroneously, yes. The USAF never used a pike (a 10’ or longer spear with a sharp point). Since the beginning of the Army Air Corps, the lance (historically, 8’) was used, the pike (historically, 9’6″) was for mechanized units.

• is normally silver in color to match the finial

Nope, not “normally”. Remove that word because paragraph 2.10.3. Authorized Finial, it states that the “decorative device at the top of a flagstaff is the finial. The authorized finial for DAF use is the silver spade.” (Emphasis mine)

• which is an additional length to the pole. The ferrule is not mandatory and changes the way a flag fits into a base or the overall height of the pole.

Flags do not fit into stands (a “base”), but flagstaffs do. It does not matter that the ferrule(s) change the length of the staff because staffs are sold as a whole including the hardware. You need to remove all of this confusing language referring to staff length with and without the hardware. You are not clear at all.

You fixed the order of precedence! In 2020 you had the Space Force last in paragraph 2.11. and fixed it and moved it to A12.10.

Flag Size

1. 2.9.1.2. Organizational Flag. This flag is 3 feet by 5 feet with a pole sleeve. 2.9.1.3. Positional Flag. This flag is 3 feet by 5 feet with a pole sleeve. 2.9.1.4. Individual Flag. This flag is 3 feet by 5 feet with a pole sleeve.
2. 2.9.2. A substitute size for the personal, ceremonial, and organizational size flags of 3 foot by 4 foot with a pole sleeve

Only this reg uses the term “individual” when everyone else on the face of the earth since time began has used “personal color” (PC for a general officer). You have to use “Individual (Personal Colors)” in several places and also write about “saluting individuals”, “death of individuals”, and “individual ceremonies”. See how this terminology for the PC possibly leads to confusion? It is a “PC” not an “IC”.

Ever since the USAF began as the Army Air Corps, colors only came in 4’4”x5’6”, ceremonial size, and 3’x4’, organizational size. Long ago, military flags used to come in 3’x5’ but in the 1800s when the colors were to be un/cased and the staff was held horizontal, most Soldiers were short enough that the flag material hit the ground. The Army’s solution? Cut off 6” from the header and fly ends. That set up the longstanding tradition of military colors being 3’x4’. Civilian size is 3’x5′.

3’x5’ has been a civilian size for around 200 years. That size is the “substitute size” if there needs to be, but there is no such thing as a “substitute size” because a substitute is never needed. By making the 3’x’5’ the standard size, you have made every USAF/SF organizational color and both types of PC larger than the other service colors or similar type. Can you even fathom what you have done here?

1. (2020) 2.27. Guidons. Guidons (Figure 2.30) are ultramarine blue nylon or wool bunting, swallow-tailed, 1 foot 8 inches by 2 feet 3¾ inches to the end of swallowtail, and forked 10 inches.
2. (2024) 2.9.1.5. Guidon Flag. These flags are 1 foot 8 inches with a pole sleeve, by 2 foot 3 ¾ inches to the end of the swallowtail and forked six inches.

By adding the wording “with pole sleeve” (it should be “staff sleeve” by the way), you have possibly shortened every guidon by three inches since the previous edition of the AFI. I know you did not mean this. Well, I hope you didn’t. Better wording here like “These flags are 1 foot 8 inches with a staff sleeve (the measurement has always included the staff sleeve)”.

Forked six or ten inches? It is 10″. Someone do at least a tiny bit of research instead of possibly just seeking an EPR bullet for getting an AFI out.

Pay attention to detail!