So I was on an Army base and noticed another AF flight suit-wearer the other day. As usual, I wondered if it was someone I knew (we were few and far between around there). It didn't seem to be an acquaintance, but then I noticed something else -- his patches looked misplaced.
We were the same rank and both had senior stars on our wings. I approached him and said, "Hey dude, I think your flag and squadron patches might be reversed." I know that early-morning drowsiness can lead to uniform SNAFUs, and was just trying to help a brother out.
He looked down at the American flag on his right arm and the squadron patch on his left arm and said, "No, flag on the right, squadron on the left, that's the way it's always been." The flag also had the canton (blue field with stars) in the upper left corner, unlike Army folks who wear it on the right arm with the canton in the upper right.
I said, "Are you sure? I've never seen it that way before," but he was adamant that this was the way he always did it. Think I saw an RC/OC-135 patch on his tab pocket.
So...as a MAF guy who has always put the squadron patch on the right arm and the US flag on the left, is there a different standard in other parts of the AF?