Yes. A Soldier can absolutely be flagged while in a deployed status. If the threat of enemy action is possible the session should be delayed until it can be handled during a period of reasonable safety. Remember: only Commanders can initiate flags. NCOs may recommend a flag action.
A word of caution
I strongly encourage you to discuss the potential flag action with a senior leader in your chain of command prior to discussing the flag action with the Soldier. This especially important while deployed due to the significant stress involved during a combat deployment and the possibility that the Soldier may have easy access to weapons and ammunition. You want to ensure the discussion is conducted in a professional manner and does not cause the Soldier to react in a negative or violent manner.
Based on the specifics of the situation it may also be wise to ensure that the Soldier does not have immediate access to a weapon during the notification. If it is deemed necessary to remove a Soldier’s weapon prior to notification of the flag, ensure the Soldier is in a safe environment and the manner in which he is asked to surrender his weapon is professional.
You could conduct the notification in an area where it is required to store weapons in a certain location of the TOC. Position yourself 25-50 feet from the weapon storage space. This allows the leader to gauge the Soldier’s reaction to the discussion and provides reasonable capability to restrain the Soldier from obtaining a weapon if necessary.
I have offered this information in response to shootings that have occurred during combat as a result of professional development gone astray. For related information please see the following ArmyTimes story from 2008: Soldier used M4 to gun down peers
Comments
Someone...not important...
A much more subtle reason that this is not a good idea to do while deployed is that even though the soldier may not *actively* try to harm you, there is a very good chance he may passively “allow” your demise. Just something you might want to think about — you are depending on these soldiers to “have your back” out there. How do you think this will affect that? Still think it’s a good idea? I think it would be EXTREMLEY difficult to prove that he passively allowed something terrible to happen to someone else as a result of enemy action.
I’m not saying it is right or correct behavior by any stretch of the imagination…just saying this situation is far more likely to occur than you might think and much more so than him actively attacking whomever flagged him.
Part-Time-Commander
As leaders, our job is to enforce the Army standards in peacetime and in combat. Not enforcing the standards, because a Soldier might “passively allow your demise” is crazy.
If a Soldier tries to do a superior harm for any reason, especially in combat, they should be discharged and/or sent to the brig. Just my thoughts.
Julian
My husband was also ijnured during OIF and has back issues. He was in Armor at the time and doing foot patrols and HUMVEE patrols. When he got back he spent almost 2 years fighting and going in circles with them, going to physical therapy which actually did more damage, then to a chiropractor which did even MORE damage before finally being sent to ortho and him saying he needed to go to a med board. After watching him go thought it and watching him fight with the Army to get treatment I would suggest that if they are asking you what you want to do then REQUEST the MERB and request to be switched to another MOS which is your right to do. As long as you can still do PT with an alternative event and your profile doesn’t limit you from working totally then you can more than likely find another MOS to go into.It is NOT the end of your career in the Army and do NOT let the docs tell you that it is (because they will try to tell you it will)When they do the P3 paperwork for you. make SURE that they do NOT mark no in the following boxes because it WILL end your Army career. (this is what the MERB told us when he went for his back in 06) It’s under section 5 Functional, Activities You need to have YES marked on Box A , Box C, and E. You also need to be able to do an alternative event for the run (walk is the most common)If you want more info on the MERB let me know my DH has been through 2 (one for his back and one for his hearing) so we are pretty familiar with the way things go. I can give you a run down of who you will need to talk to once you’ve gotten it started and what all will go on. It’s not as bad as people make it out to be.