Aw, ya that white piece. Maybe I was confusing bikes. Same thing plus has a cable hold on side. Keeps it from binding or rubbing tank. It is kinda funny, I guess. American ingenuity makes us think that evryone else did as good as they could with what they had, but we can easily improve on it. And i am a big fan of American -made products, especially performance products, but many seemingly unneeded parts do have a purpose. Even on older bikes, they had several good solid parts with a solid reason for having it.
My own saying that I refer to often is, " Don't spend a bunch of dollars, trying to save a little bit of coins." I am tight with it, and have spent plenty of money trying to save it, but I'm learning.
By the way, if the "USMC" stands for Marine, then thank you, SIR!!!! My hats off to your Bravery.