Looking at the blackened ends of the lumber saved from our workshop fire, I’m grateful for these men and women who stand ready, at a moments notice, to put their lives on hold in service of others. The thin white line differs from other thin lines in that the background is blue instead of black, with a white line crossing horizontally through the middle. Like the Thin Blue Line flag that honors America’s police, our wooden Thin Red Line flag is both a tribute and a reminder of the sacrifice-and the difference-made by our first responders. The Thin Red Line originally came about as a description used to refer to an outgunned military unit holding firm against attack The Thin White Line represents emergency medical services. Flags of Valor’s Thin Red Line flag honors them, and especially those firefighters and other first responders who have been injured or lost their lives in the line of duty. But without the firefighters’ courage and skill, Flags of Valor and the other businesses sharing our building could have lost everything.Īs Americans, we owe these protectors a debt of gratitude for all they do, and all they stand ready to do at a moment’s notice. Thank God no one was hurt that day, and the damage to our workshop wasn’t crippling. The blaze could have threatened the whole building, but our local Loudoun County Fire and Rescue responded fast. That fact was on my mind during the recent fire in our Flags of Valor workshop. Sometimes, they don’t make it back across that line to safety. Explosions, fires, floods, smoke, spills, crashes, heart attacks: against deadly odds, again and again, firefighters put their lives on that thin red line to rescue people, pets and property. What does the Thin Red Line mean? These selfless men and women have banded together to form a “thin red line” of protection between American communities and everything from West Coast wildfires to East Coast hurricanes. In this mesmerizing film based on a 1962 novel of the same title by James Jones, writer and director Terrence Malick has imagined the World War II battle.

So do our nation’s firefighters, swift-boat rescue teams, paramedics and other first responders. Combat veterans know what it is to serve outside the wire-beyond what’s safe.

Thin red line