Recently, Marine Corps officials have begun developing plans to eliminate the vehicle decals required to access bases and air stations. The pending policy shift comes just weeks after the service issued a memo to personnel warning them and their families to take extra precautions amid threats from the Islamic State group. If approved, it would allow thousands of Marines to remove the conspicuous decals that adorn their vehicle windshields. These vehicle decals are a mandatory form of identification, that allows entry into the bases.
Rex Runyon, a spokesman for Marine Corps Installation Command at the Pentagon said, “There hasn’t been a decision made to drop the decals, it’s being staffed now.”
The decals were onced required on all bases, across all services in the United States, until 2007 when the Air Force stopped requiring them. The Army did the same in 2011, and most recently in 2013, the Navy decided to also get rid of the special vehicle decals for most of their personnel.
But the Marine Corps still felt these special decals were necessary despite the other military agencies doing away with them. The Marine Corps asked for, and received, a waiver to continue registering personal vehicles and decals.
When Air Force Lt. Col. Tom Crosson was asked to weigh in on the Marine Corps and their continued use of the vehicle decals he had this to say,
“Post-9/11, obviously things changed and they went to 100 percent ID checks. The stickers kind of became obsolete.” It was reported that Air Force officials recommended airmen remove the decals as soon as the policy expired in 2007, in an attempt to lower the chances of being targeted by a terrorist organization or criminal.
