The USA/Back The Blue flag event is designed as a free and simultaneous event held in as many places as possible across the USA on Sunday May 15, 2022.
A short ceremony occurs at 10 am (eastern time) with the USA flag and this is repeated at 11 am with the Back the Blue Flag. Zoom, live social media and news footage link and unify everyone together to produce a nationwide montage of synchronized video of everyone saying the pledge of allegiance or singing together.
If the event has a leader, they should have an air horn to signal the time to start the pledge of allegiance at 10 am and at 11 am but a whistle can be used.
This event is described as a water event, but the flags can be formed in a park or parking lot with enough space. If formed on land the air mattresses (pixels) that make the flag can be carried over your head to make a moving flag or words if you choose to make them. This resembles what a marching band does. If you are on land you can make flag “pixels” from cardboard, towels or any other material.
To attend each person brings their own (pixel) painted air mattress, lifejacket, beachball (marked with a sharpie to look like a baseball) and a whistle. Ear plugs are strongly recommended during the cheers on land and in the water.
If people stay after the flag ceremony for the Mutiny Games, they may also bring a hot dog and apple pie in zip lock bags, a squirt gun, sparklers and a lighter in a zip lock bag to play the games. One or two bottles of water should be left on shore.
At 9 am people gather and start forming the USA flag on land a short walk to the beach. A 2′ wide space is made between each row so people can stand beside their air mattress.
No matter how complete your flag is, a second before 10 am a short air horn toot or whistle signals the start of the pledge of allegiance precisely at 10 am. This is followed by the singing of the national anthem. This is followed by one minute of silence for fallen Peace Officers. This is followed by a short air horn toot and everybody gives three cheers (hip, hip horay, hip, hip horay, hip hip horay) after the last hooray they throw their balls in the air and can whistle for the duration of time that their balls are in the air. A prayer for fallen officers is given and Mayor Tom Brumbalow thanks the Police on behalf of the citizens. Patriotic songs and police bravery or appreciation stories follow.
The first part of the event ends at 10:45 with spontaneous whistles from everyone so that air mattresses can be moved into the water to form the USA flag. Ready or not at 10:59 everybody shouts “Mutiny” while flipping the USA flag over to make the “Back The Blue” flag. At 11 am the country is again connected together saying the pledge of allegiance followed by the national anthem, 1 minute of silence and followed by three cheers and the balls up in the air and whistles. The event is now over and the Back The Blue flag breaks apart. Some people head for shore and leave. Their total water time will have been about 20 minutes. For the people that are left, they play Mutiny Games starting with “Walk The Plank”. See the section called Mutiny! for more information. For land based flags they can play the “Karaoke Challenge Game” also described in Mutiny!.