Today I learned something new, thanks to @Gleisplan.

When a US soldier has a US flag patch on his shoulders it looks like the flag is mirrored on his right shoulder, but that is intentional.

The idea is, the right shoulder patch looks like a real flag would look, if the soldier was carrying a real flag on a pole and running forward β€” if you stood to his right you would indeed see the stars of the flag to the right in the direction the pole is moving.
https://mastodon.social/@Gleisplan/115226570453958167

@randahl @Gleisplan

I've seen that on military uniforms for other countries and agree with the premise.

My dad was a Navy Vet and he had to correct me once because I had a Norwegian flag on the right sleeve of my Phillies uniform. The flag should have been upside down in order to appear mirrored.

Rather than having the flag be upside down, I just put it on the right chest so it could be in the normal orientation.