diff --git a/helm-charts/vmpooler/templates/deployment-api.yaml b/helm-charts/vmpooler/templates/deployment-api.yaml
index f89bec8..18bf6c1 100644
--- a/helm-charts/vmpooler/templates/deployment-api.yaml
+++ b/helm-charts/vmpooler/templates/deployment-api.yaml
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@ spec:
           initialDelaySeconds: 40
           periodSeconds: 10
         env:
+        - name: DEBUG_FLAG
+          value: 'true'
         - name: JRUBY_OPTS
           value: '{{ .Values.jruby_opts }}'
         - name: PORT
diff --git a/helm-charts/vmpooler/templates/deployment-manager.yaml b/helm-charts/vmpooler/templates/deployment-manager.yaml
index 63bda8f..0df4421 100644
--- a/helm-charts/vmpooler/templates/deployment-manager.yaml
+++ b/helm-charts/vmpooler/templates/deployment-manager.yaml
@@ -63,6 +63,8 @@ spec:
           initialDelaySeconds: 40
           periodSeconds: 10
         env:
+        - name: DEBUG_FLAG
+          value: 'true'
         - name: GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS
           value: '{{ .Values.gce.keyfile }}'
         - name: AWS_KEY_FILE_LOCATION