Every Friday, millions of Americans don a red shirt in honor of those who are deployed in service to the military. Some people wear other articles of red clothing like a tie, scarf, jacket, or just about anything.

Honored all across America, the tradition, although not officially designated, started about 15 years ago. In an effort to “remember everyone deployed” (R.E.D.), Fridays became known as R.E.D. Fridays. It became an important way of honoring those military personnel who were stationed in harm’s way, around the globe.

There are competing stories about the origin of RED Fridays, but the act of donning red clothing once weekly began in 2005 or 2006.

Here is a lengthier story about the origin of Red Fridays from military.com.

More recently, it has been suggested, since so closely aligned with the conservative patriot movement that it may also honor the fight for conservative values during elections and the fight for patriotism in general.