@nf1e, we're both Marines who have earned our Eagle, Globe and Anchor, and have honorably served our country, so I completely understand everything you wrote in your post and your sentiment behind it. However, I hold a different opinion about these USMC stickers on people's clone builds and I'd like to explain the rational behind my viewpoint.
I care deeply about USMC history, as many of you have seen from my tedious and detailed study of the M40 series of sniper rifles, and my volunteer work with the Scout Sniper Association. I absolutely hate seeing any USMC history destroyed and the Marine Corps itself has already destroyed tons of history that my friends and I have been part of, such as cutting up the McMillan A4 stocks. I don't support any history being destroyed, so I implore everyone, Marine or otherwise, to keep any original USMC stickers on their original USMC shooting team stocks! Those stickers are a small part of USMC history and they were put on those stocks in celebration of the Corps and to show other competitors who these shooters are.
Having an original USMC sticker on an original USMC stock is something to be treasured and to be taken care of for future generations, not destroyed. The USMC stickers are so prevalent of the USMC shooting team stocks that it's now pretty much a requirement to add one to a USMC clone clone build, even one using a regular civilian purchased stock. It doesn't mean that person is a poser, it means that person enjoys USMC history and is respecting it by making their clone rifle as close to the issued team guns as they can get. If the stickers are on the vast majority of the stocks used by the shooting team, then it should be added to the build list.
A poser is someone who pretends to be something or someone that they are not. Having an original USMC sticker on an original USMC shooting team stock is preserving USMC history. Putting a replica USMC sticker on a clone USMC shooting team rifle is respecting USMC history. The people who own rifles built using original or replica stickers aren't posing as Marines or calling themselves Marines, they just want to keep USMC history and the tradition of shooting team stickers alive.
Here's an example of a poser. A guy I knew from school went out and purchased a USMC t-shirt (basic gray shirt with a large USMC on the front in black letters) about the same time that I was enlisted in the Corps. He said that he was just showing his support for the military and I told him that he shouldn't wear the shirt at all because he'll look like a poser. He didn't listen to me, and instead he cut the sleeves off the t-shirt and would wear it to the gym trying to look cool. He even decided that he would looker cooler if he had a high and tight haircut. That's a poser. That's a completely worthless person who needs to be something they are not because they've never achieved anything in their lives. There's a universe of difference between this scum bag and someone with a USMC sticker on the side of their USMC shooting team clone.
There's also a slippery slope with a sticker restriction, where does it end? Should civilians now be allowed to own any type of USMC clone rifle? Or even "USMC PROPERTY" marked rifles like the H&R Reising Model 60 or CMP surplus Remington 40X? After all, some rifles like these were only used by Marines, and some guns are purely iconic USMC, such as the M40. I personally know tons of people who have never served in the Marines, but they love the M40 series, and rabidly collect those rifles and parts. To me, these people are enjoying something that's part of USMC history, but it's also larger than the that, these people are enjoying their own COUNTRY'S history! Without civilian taxpayers, there would be no Marine Corps. Even if there were somehow still a Marine Corps, without our fellow countrymen we would have no one to protect and no reason to exist.
Marines and civilians aren't mutually exclusive and we need each other to survive. Even though civilians don't have the right to call themselves Marines and use our emblems like the Eagle, Globe and Anchor, they still have the right to celebrate our country's history, which includes our military history. A civilian isn't calling themselves a Marine or using our emblem in a personal manner by putting a USMC sticker on their stock, they are showing their appreciation for the Corps and our country.
If anyone here has an original USMC shooting team stock with an original USMC shooting team sticker on it, you should cherish that piece of history and guard it from anyone who wishes to destroy it. Don't ever remove those original stickers, that's USMC history and it belongs on that stock, regardless of who currently owns it. If you aren't a Marine, but want to put a reproduction USMC sticker on your USMC shooting team clone rifle, go for it and thank you for keeping interest in our Corp's history! Enjoy your rifle with USMC sticker respectfully, don't be a poser, don't call yourself a Marine, and we won't have any issues. It's that simple.
As far as I'm concerned, that's the end of the USMC (or any other military branch or unit) sticker debate, forever.
