Understanding Federal, State, Local, and Organizational Ceremonial Requirements
I was sent a message recently asking for guidance for presenting the colors in a very specific situation. Here is the framework of the ceremony:
A color guard is invited to a Veterans Day assembly at a private Christian school in Texas. The four-man team carries the US and Texas flags, presents the colors, and remains in position while the students recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States. The students then recite the Texas Pledge of Allegiance, followed by pledges to the Bible and the Christian flag.
The color guard commander wondered whether the team is expected to participate in all four pledges. Should the Texas flag dip? Should both flags remain upright? Must the team remain in formation throughout the school’s entire program?
These questions expose a much larger issue in ceremonial practice: the difference between a requirement imposed upon an organization and a requirement applicable to an outside color guard invited to support that organization.
A host organization’s ceremonial requirements do not automatically become the visiting color guard’s ceremonial requirements.
Understanding this distinction requires examining the source, authority, purpose, and applicability of each requirement.
Federal Requirements: What Does the U.S. Flag Code Establish?
The United States Flag Code, found in Title 4 of the United States Code, establishes nationally recognized customs for displaying and honoring the U.S. flag. Section 5 is particularly important because it describes the Flag Code as a codification of customs established for civilians and civilian organizations that are not required to follow military regulations.
This distinction matters. The Flag Code establishes general national customs, while military departments require additional and more specific procedures for personnel and organizations under their authority.
For example, 4 U.S.C. § 4 addresses the Pledge of Allegiance, including the appropriate conduct of persons in uniform. Section 7 addresses the position and manner of displaying the flag. Section 8 addresses respect for the flag, including the prohibition against dipping the U.S. flag.
However, none of these provisions establishes that a visiting color guard must participate in every pledge, prayer, organizational ritual, or ceremony conducted by its host. The color guard must distinguish between the national standards for honoring the flag and the host organization’s program of events. Those are not necessarily the same thing.
State Requirements: The Texas Example
States may establish their own flag codes, pledges, and ceremonial customs.
Texas provides an especially useful example. Texas Government Code § 3100.101 establishes the Texas Pledge of Allegiance.
Section 3100.102 permits the pledge to be recited at public or private meetings where the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance is recited, as well as at state historical events or celebrations. Section 3100.103 states that the U.S. pledge should precede the Texas pledge when both are recited. Texas Government Code § 3100.070(a)(2) also states that the Texas flag should not be dipped to any person or thing except as a mark of honor for the United States flag. This establishes an important distinction between permission and requirement.
Texas law recognizes dipping the state flag as an honor to the U.S. flag. It does not, in that provision, specifically require dipping the Texas flag throughout the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance.
Texas provides another useful example of limited applicability. Texas Education Code § 25.082 requires public school districts and open-enrollment charter schools to provide for daily recitation of the U.S. and Texas pledges, subject to the statute’s provisions. That requirement is directed toward specified educational institutions and their students. It does not automatically extend to every private school or establish a ceremonial duty for a visiting military or civilian color guard.
This is the critical distinction. A requirement may be established by state law without applying to every person or organization participating in an event within that state.
Local Requirements: Who Must Follow Them?
Local governments, school systems, public safety agencies, and other institutions may establish ceremonial policies. A city council might prescribe an opening observance for its meetings. A school board might establish procedures for assemblies. A fire department might adopt a ceremonial manual specifying its traditions for promotions, memorial services, and retirements. These policies must be examined according to their actual authority and scope.
A municipal policy governing the conduct of city employees does not necessarily prescribe how an invited color guard must perform its movements. Similarly, a school assembly procedure governing faculty and students does not automatically become a requirement for a visiting veterans organization.
Applicable laws, facility restrictions, safety requirements, and authorized participation agreements may impose obligations on visitors. Those obligations must be respected, but an internal ceremonial policy does not acquire universal authority simply because the organization hosting the event adopted it.
Organizational Requirements: The American Legion and VFW
Veterans organizations provide another clear example.
The American Legion publishes an Officer’s Guide and Manual of Ceremonies containing procedures for advancing, posting, retrieving, and honoring the Colors during post meetings. The Veterans of Foreign Wars also maintains organizational bylaws, procedures, and rituals governing its activities.
These publications serve the respective organizations and their members. Their instructions should be interpreted according to their stated applicability and governing status. For example, a veterans post may establish a regular practice of advancing and posting its Colors at the beginning of every meeting and retrieving them before adjournment. That practice can be entirely appropriate within the organization’s established ceremonial system.
However, it does not follow that a JROTC color guard invited to present the Colors at a community Veterans Day event must also post and retrieve them simply because a local veterans organization uses that procedure at its own meetings. Nor does a procedure appearing in a veterans organization’s ceremonial manual automatically supersede the regulations governing an invited military honor guard. The same distinction operates in the opposite direction.
When a veterans organization conducts its own internal ceremonies, it does not automatically become subject to every drill procedure established for a particular military service’s honor guard. The source of a procedure must be identified, and its applicability must be established.
An organization’s authority to establish its own ceremonies is not authority to impose those ceremonies upon unrelated organizations.
The Visiting Color Guard Has Its Own Governing Authority
Every color guard should operate under an identifiable system of authority.
An active-duty military honor guard must comply with the regulations, instructions, and authorization governing its particular service and mission. A JROTC color guard must comply with the requirements applicable to its program, the service’s drill and ceremonies manual. A military honor guard publication does not become JROTC authority merely because its procedures appear more ceremonial or sophisticated. A veterans organization, law enforcement agency, fire department, or independent ceremonial unit may operate under its own established procedures.
These distinctions remain relevant even when different organizations participate in the same event. For example, a Department of the Air Force Base Honor Guard and a JROTC color guard might each receive invitations to the same Veterans Day ceremony. The host’s program may be identical, but the two teams do not necessarily operate under identical governing instructions.
The host controls the event program. Each team remains responsible for performing its assigned ceremonial duties under the authority applicable to that team. The host may request a particular presentation. The team may accept the request if it is authorized and compatible with its governing procedures. Neither should assume that the host’s preferences automatically replace the team’s established standards.
Presenting the Colors Does Not Require Posting Them
A related misunderstanding is the assumption that every formal color guard appearance requires both posting and retrieving the Colors. It does not.
Presenting the Colors and posting the Colors are different ceremonial functions. A team may enter, render the prescribed honors, and depart with the Colors. There is no general requirement that the flags be placed into stands simply because the event includes the Pledge of Allegiance, a prayer, a speech, or a formal opening.
Posting the Colors is appropriate when the circumstances, event requirements, and governing procedures support that action. It should not be added merely because the host has seen another organization perform it. For example, an American Legion post’s regular meeting ritual may include posting and retrieving its Colors. That internal practice does not establish a posting requirement for every outside organization invited to present the Colors at another event.
Likewise, an assembly may include flags already positioned on the stage. Those flags do not create a requirement for the visiting color guard to post additional flags. That would not be an appropriate posting sequence. Any colors that are posted should also be carried in. The exception to this is in military settings where a personal and/or positional color is preposted because it cannot be carried in the color guard, nor are these colors formally posted by themselves.
The appropriate question is not, “Does this organization normally post the Colors?” It is, “What ceremonial function has the visiting color guard been asked and authorized to perform?”
When the Host Has Additional Pledges or Rituals
Return to the Christian school in Texas.
The school conducts the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance, the Texas pledge, and pledges to the Bible and the Christian flag. The school may establish its own religious observances consistent with the requirements applicable to it as a private institution. But those religious observances do not automatically become duties of an invited color guard.
The team is responsible for presenting the Colors and rendering the honors required by its governing procedures. If it remains in formation during the U.S. and Texas pledges, the applicable flag honors and ceremonial instructions must still be observed.
The Bible and Christian flag pledges belong to the school’s religious program. They are not additional honors outside of the institution. Consequently, there is no general ceremonial requirement for the visiting color guard to dip either flag, or participate in those religious pledges.
One reasonable arrangement would be for the color guard to present the Colors, remain for the U.S. and Texas pledges, and then depart before the school continues with its religious observances. Another would be to remain for all pledges. The purpose is not to question the school’s traditions. It is to distinguish the school’s program from the visiting team’s ceremonial responsibilities.
An Invitation Is Not a Transfer of Authority
When an organization invites an outside color guard, it requests a service. That invitation does not transfer command of the visiting team to the host organization or authorize the host to disregard the team’s governing procedures. The host can establish the schedule, location, purpose, and desired sequence of the event.
The color guard commander determines whether the requested participation can be accomplished under the team’s applicable instructions and authorization.
Both parties should coordinate the details in advance. This includes determining whether the team will present or post the Colors, which flags will be carried, when the team will enter and depart, which portions of the program it will support, and whether the program includes additional organizational or religious rituals.
If a requested action is outside the team’s authorization or incompatible with its prescribed procedures, the team should explain the limitation and coordinate an acceptable alternative. Once a compatible program has been agreed upon, the team should execute that program as arranged rather than departing unexpectedly or changing its actions during the ceremony.
Authority Must Be Accompanied by Applicability
The recurring problem is not necessarily that organizations have inappropriate ceremonial requirements. The problem arises when people fail to distinguish where those requirements apply. Federal flag customs, state flag provisions, local institutional policies, organizational rituals, and military instructions may all address ceremonial conduct. But they do not all govern the same people, activities, or organizations.
Before relying on a ceremonial requirement, determine who issued it, who is subject to it, what activity it governs, and whether it applies to the particular team or event. A requirement does not become universal because it appears in an official publication, reflects a longstanding tradition, or is routinely followed by another organization.
The host establishes the program. The color guard fulfills its authorized ceremonial mission. Each must understand the limits of its own authority.
That distinction allows schools, veterans organizations, churches, civic institutions, and public agencies to preserve their traditions while visiting color guards maintain the standards under which they serve.
References
- 4 U.S.C. § 4, Pledge of Allegiance
- 4 U.S.C. § 5, Display and Use of the Flag by Civilians
- 4 U.S.C. § 7, Position and Manner of Display
- 4 U.S.C. § 8, Respect for Flag
- Texas Government Code, Chapter 3100, State Flag
- Texas Education Code, § 25.082, Pledges of Allegiance
- The American Legion, 2026 Officer’s Guide and Manual of Ceremonies, particularly pages 67–70.