There was an article on MIlitary.com this week where the Army Provost Marshall has directed DOD decals would no longer be issued. He qualified it though by allowing the final decision to be made by each installation commander, based on the perceived need at the installation. His rationale is that the decals do not really mean anything, since too many decals are not removed when the vehicle is sold. The IT scanning systems of ID cards are more efficient, since they check out the individual against not only military records but also civilian police records. He does realize, however, that not all installations have these systems in place. Thus the final determination by the installation commander.
So until these systems are universal, we should probably continue to get the decals. We're staying at numerous installations maintained by different services and each may have different requirements. My "home base" is Fort Gordon, Georgia. As of now they are still requiring decals, but we've been told that will change in the future. If it does, I'll register at some other base to get the decals until such time as they're no longer needed.
The only thing wrong with being retired is that you never get a day off!
