FLAG-RAISING mishaps are more common than you would imagine. When they occur, citizens rarely direct their ire toward the men and women in uniform who serve their nations with honour. Apparently, that’s not the case in Guyana.
As our nation gathered at Fort Island to mark our Diamond Jubilee Independence, the Golden Arrowhead became tangled up on the flagpole. I was there, and I witnessed our military personnel working feverishly to resolve the issue. It was a technical hiccup, not a catastrophe. Yet within hours, mischief-makers unleashed a torrent of disparaging remarks aimed at our service members, as if a technical setback somehow diminished their dedication to our country.
The irony is glaring when viewed in a global context. When French military personnel hoisted the Olympic flag upside down at the Place du Trocadero during the 2024 Paris Games, the world quickly moved on. When BJP President Amit Shah pulled the rope at India’s 2018 Independence Day ceremony and watched his nation’s flag crash to the ground, it was treated as an embarrassing moment, nothing more.
Just last month, American military personnel displayed the British Union Jack upside down at Arlington National Cemetery during King Charles III and Queen Camilla’s wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Flying the Union Jack inverted is considered a distress signal and an insult to the Crown. It was a blunder. It was embarrassing. But it did not diminish the service, sacrifice, or professionalism of those who wear the uniform.
Yet in Guyana, a mechanical failure became grounds for national condemnation, even as President Mohamed Irfaan Ali showed the nation what true leadership looks like. While critics rushed to their keyboards as heavy rains drenched Fort Island, the President remained steadfast with First Lady Arya Ali and their young children, refusing to leave until the Golden Arrowhead was finally raised. That demonstration of patience, respect, and national pride underscores his title as our Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
Armchair critics conveniently ignore or fail to appreciate the unwavering courage and sacrifice of our military personnel. On May 4, 2026, the very morning Guyana opened oral submissions at the International Court of Justice at The Hague, a GDF patrol escorting civilian boats from Makapa to Eteringbang came under fire near Black Water on the Cuyuni River. Lance Corporal Troyland Douglas sustained two gunshot wounds to his right leg. Another rank narrowly escaped when a bullet grazed him, passing through his uniform. The patrol returned fire and safely evacuated the convoy. Douglas became the ninth GDF soldier wounded by Venezuelan gunfire within a year.
Within 48 hours, GDF patrols faced two more attacks on May 5 at 16:10 and 16:50 hours while escorting civilians. Both patrols responded and withdrew safely without injuries. By late May, at least five separate attacks were confirmed along the Cuyuni corridor.
On May 15, 2025, the GDF riverine patrols faced three separate attacks in 24 hours when armed men in civilian clothing opened fire between Eteringbang and Makapa.
A few months earlier, on March 1, 2025, a Venezuelan Coast Guard vessel entered Guyana’s EEZ near the Stabroek Block, approached ExxonMobil FPSOs, including Prosperity and Liza Destiny, and demanded they acknowledge they were in Venezuelan waters. Later that same day, Caracas uploaded footage of their live-fire exercises on social media. An always alert GDF responded by deploying air assets and Coast Guard vessels to the area.
A GDF resupply vessel travelling from Eteringbang to Makapa was intercepted by two wooden boats carrying heavily armed and masked men in February 2025, who opened fire, wounding eight soldiers. This was the most significant mass-casualty event in recent GDF history.
As Venezuela’s Essequibo referendum crisis peaked, a GDF Bell 412EP helicopter crashed approximately 30 miles east of Arau, Guyana’s westernmost military post, on December 6, 2023. Five of seven on board were killed, including senior officers under Colonel Michael Shahoud, Commander of the 1st Infantry Battalion.
While some miscreants choose to focus on a malfunctioning flagpole and rush to condemn those in uniform, remember these are the soldiers who lost brothers in a helicopter crash while defending our border, who watched Venezuelan warships invade our waters, and who stood their ground when masked gunmen circled their boats.
A flag stuck on a pole is a mechanical failure; nine soldiers shot within a year is a national sacrifice. The GDF doesn’t owe you an apology for a flag malfunction. We owe them gratitude for holding the line while we sleep at night.
And here is the final irony: Azruddin Mohamed, who could not find it in himself to attend the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, found the time, along with his sister, to travel to Fort Island in its aftermath to inspect whether the garbage had been picked up. He skipped the party, but showed up for the cleanup.
Perhaps that tells you everything you need to know about where some people’s loyalties lie, not in celebrating this nation, not in honouring those who bleed for it, but in searching, always searching, for something to complain about.
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.
