Subdued American flag
The US flag insignia in muted colours instead of red, white and blue, worn on military uniforms in the field. The Army’s subdued, or tactical, flag is green and black; the Air Force’s is spice brown.
Easily confused with
How to read it
The Army’s uniform guide, DA Pam 670-1, gives the full-colour flag insignia as red, white and blue, about 2 by 3 inches, and the tactical flag as subdued green and black. Army Regulation 670-1 says soldiers wear the full-colour flag on utility uniforms unless deployed or in a field environment, and the subdued tactical flag when they are; the guide says it is worn when the commander directs it under tactical field conditions. Like the full-colour patch, it is worn with the stars facing forward, as the reverse side flag on the right shoulder.
Also searched as: black and green flag patch, black and white american flag, black and white flag, subdued flag meaning, subdued flag patch, tactical flag.
These explain what each flag display means under the US Flag Code, federal law and military regulations, and who defines it. The Flag Code is a guide for civilians with no penalty attached; this isn’t legal advice.
Air Force flags
Under Air Force Instruction 36-2903, mandatory from April 1, 2021, the Air Force’s flag patch is subdued in spice brown and worn both in garrison and deployed, the Air Force News Service reported. Subdued black and green flags were allowed until June 1, 2020, and infrared flags are not authorized.
Black and white flags
Neither service describes its subdued flag as black and white. Two black-and-white flags have meanings of their own: the POW/MIA flag, black and white with a prisoner’s silhouette against a white circle, and the thin blue line flag, a black-and-white American flag with one blue stripe.
Read next
- Next in US flag variantsPOW/MIA flagThe flag of the National League of POW/MIA Families, designated by federal law as the symbol of the nation’s commitment to account for Americans held as prisoners of war or missing in action.
- The same shape in African flagsFlag of AngolaAngola’s flag is red over black with a yellow emblem in the centre: part of a cogwheel, a machete and a five-pointed star. Its constitution says the red is the blood shed by Angolans under colonial oppression, in the liberation struggle and in defence of the country, and the black is the African continent; the cogwheel stands for workers and industry, the machete for peasants, farming and the armed struggle, the star for international solidarity and progress, and their yellow for the country’s wealth.
More US flag variants
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with lines or squares and rectangles.
Sources
- DA Pamphlet 670-1, Guide to the Wear and Appearance of Army Uniforms and Insignia, DA PAM 670-1, 26 January 2021, Headquarters, Department of the Army (Army Publishing Directorate), Para. 21-19
- Army Regulation 670-1, Wear and Appearance of Army Uniforms and Insignia, AR 670-1 (26 January 2021), para. 21-19, Headquarters, Department of the Army (Army Publishing Directorate), Para. 21-19a
- Latest OCP guidance OKs current subdued patches, Air Force News Service, via Scott Air Force Base News, U.S. Air Force (Scott Air Force Base), Highlights from AFI 36-2903
- The Story of the POW/MIA Flag, VFW news release archive, September 2009, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, The flag’s design
- The Short, Fraught History of the ‘Thin Blue Line’ American Flag, The Marshall Project, June 8, 2020, The Marshall Project, Opening
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 10, 2026. How we research
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