For years, soldiers from Washington have been flying their state flag while deployed to faraway places like Iraq, Afghanistan and Bosnia. But they were required to buy those flags due to a quirk in state law that prohibited donations of state property to private citizens.

With the help of 5th District state Rep. Jay Rodne, an Iraq War veteran, the Legislature in 2009 provided a way for the Office of Secretary of State to provide Washington State flags to military units deployed abroad. It passed a bill creating the Washington state flag account.

The program is now accepting donations from the public and the money raised will be used to purchase the flags and have them mailed to requesting units that are deployed. If you want to donate to the flag account, go here.

“It’s great to have this account in place so people can make donations so our servicemen and women abroad can have a symbol of their home – our state flag,” said Rodne, R-North Bend. “I know firsthand how much it matters to our men and women overseas when they receive their Washington flag.”

Secretary Reed also is pleased that the flag account enables this important symbol of Washington to reach more soldiers.

“The account offers a meaningful way for people to provide our soldiers with a reminder of home when they are thousands of miles away,” said Reed, who paid for a state flag and presented it last week to the 1st Battalion, 186th Aviation Regiment (nicknamed “The Raptors”) before its deployment to the Middle East.