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Original Tattered Iraqi Flag


AnDuc49
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There's not much that I can say about this piece, so I'll let the vet tell you about it. In his words: "My name is SFC Gilbert Zavala and I was deployed to Iraq from March 19, 2003 to March 3, 2004 in the city of Tikrit. I was attached to the 418th Civil Affairs Batt. out of Belton, MO in direct support of the 4th ID out of Ft. Hood, TX. My team's main responsibility was to put the Iraqi Police, Fire Dept. and Border Police back to work and maintain public safety. The items that I brought back from Iraq consisted of several Iraqi helmets, flags, Republican Guard uniforms, old Iraqi currency that was taken out of circulation, books and documents. This was among several items we found while conducting missions on the Republican Guard base about 5 miles north of Tikrit
During the first few weeks of the invasion my element found several hundred items scattered everywhere we went. The Republican Guard base was one of our main missions to keep looters out until a larger unit could come in and secure the area. The items bought from me were brought back from my 1st tour to Iraq and had been sitting in a box in my garage for nearly 7 years before I decided to sell the items. I hope that you'll enjoy them and it'll make a great addition to your collection".

I hope that you all love this piece as much as I do! Something that I will definitely be getting framed

 

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Photo of then SSgt Zavala (attached to 1-22 Inf.) posing in Saddam Hussein's Palace in Tikrit along with captured weapons on 17 July 2003

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I thought the Iraqi flag had 3 green stars on it until 2008?

 

Now that you mentioned, I think the time frame of 2003-2004 would be incorrect for the flag. I simply copied it down from a signed letter which the seller included (received from the vet when the seller first purchased it). I do know that the vet served until 2012 though, so I wonder if it's something that was picked up in a later tour

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Cap Camouflage Pattern I

It looks like a nice flag. I think it could be an honest mistake if he was just going through old boxes. Maybe ask him, without mentioning the flag, if he was deployed to Iraq between 2008 and 2012.

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It looks like a nice flag. I think it could be an honest mistake if he was just going through old boxes. Maybe ask him, without mentioning the flag, if he was deployed to Iraq between 2008 and 2012.

I ended up talking/texting with the vet over a two day period. I'll just go ahead and type down what he told me verbatim.

 

"The flag in question was brought back in 2004 from Tikrit, the inscription you're looking at you were confusing with the actual (official) country flag when this was a battle flag. There were several styles of battle flags, but the official Iraqi wasn't decided until about 2008.

 

As for my service, after my first deployment, I was recruited by a Special Operations Command SgtMajor. It started with a phone call, basically asked if I wanted to come to his unit. So I went to Ft. Bragg, NC., tried out, passed the qualification course and that was that. I've been to Iraq x2, Afghanistan x1, the Southern Philippines plus various South Pacific and Middle Eastern countries covering a 14 year span in Special Operations."

 

He also included some photos of him throughout his tours, one in Tikrit and others in Afghanistan I believe.

 

Let me know what you guys think. It's not like I was sold this flag for an exuberant price, but I don't know, just a bit wary since so many people claim to SOF nowadays

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Great bring back with solid provenance to include the photos. Doesn't get much better than that. Congratulations.

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Cap Camouflage Pattern I

I did not know about the battle flags with no stars, I have some items I assumed were 2008 or later because of that. Interesting

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trenchfoot

My 2 cents: This flag exhibits wear consistent with being flown on the back of an Iraqi humvee or APC. Not saying I doubt his story, but during the time he said he brought it back, they usually flew the old 2003 version of the Iraqi flag. If you look up photos of Iraqi soldiers or vehicles from 2004, you will only see the old flag style on uniform patches, armbands, the sides of vehicles, and being flown atop humvees. This is the case until about 2007-2008 when the current design of the Iraqi flag was adopted. The construction of the flag is more in line with flags flown during the war on ISIS. It's not entirely impossible it was brought back during this time but it is very unlikely.

 

Russ

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  • 6 months later...

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