Flag

The other day, after the Fort Hood shooting, I noticed that our flag was flying at half mast. I understand that the flags are at half mast on special occasion such as Memorial Day, Patriot Day, and death of president and other leaders, etc. But this occasion was a shooting within the military base, because of a psychological breakdown (some media persuade us by saying it’s more of a terrorist attack because Major Malik Nadal Hasan is said to have connection with a terrorist group, and also he agreed to suicide bombing). My concern is, though I understand that the half mast was due to the shooting, but couple month ago, similar situation happened at Afghanistan, where our soldier was being under treatment by a military psychologist and went crazy; shot the psychologist and 2 other soldiers. When this happened the United States did not half-mast. If the half-mast is to show respect to the one that died or fought for our country, wouldn’t it be appropriate to do so then and even throughout the war? Considering our soldier, more or less, are dying every day.