The Marine Corps is removing the word "man" from 19 of its job titles to make them gender-neutral, but will leave the word in a few of some of its most iconic occupations, according to the
Marine Corps Times.
The changes to the titles of the military occupational specialties, or MOSs, are the result of a review mandated by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. The Navy and Marine Corps began their review of titles in January. The Navy's review looked to affect nearly two dozen names from yeoman to airman, noted the
Navy Times.
The titles "rifleman" and "mortarman" are some of the Marine Corps titles that will remain the same, the Marines decided after reviewing a list of 33 titles.
"Names that were not changed, like rifleman, are steeped in Marine Corps history and ethos," a Marine official who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Marine Corps Times. "Things that were changed needed to be updated to align with other MOS names."
The Marine Corps Times said that in most of the cases, "man" was replaced with "Marine." Those changes included: Basic infantry Marine, Riverine assault craft Marine, Light-armor vehicle Marine, Reconnaissance Marine, Infantry assault Marine, Basic field artillery Marine, Field artillery fire control Marine, Field artillery sensor support Marine, Fire support Marine, Basic engineer, construction and equipment Marine, Basic tank and assault amphibious vehicle Marine, Armor Marine, Amphibious assault vehicle Marine, and Amphibious combat vehicle Marine.
The Marine Corps Times said the field artillery operations man was expected to be changed to field artillery operations chief, since that job is held by the rank of staff sergeant or higher. The anti-tank missileman will become missile gunner.
The title changes come six months after the Pentagon ordered all combat jobs open to women, said
The Associated Press. Since then, only seven female Marines are either serving in those posts or waiting to serve, and 167 are performing noncombat duties in front-line units.
CBS News said the new names have been met with resistance, with charges of political correctness.
While the Navy and Marine Corps are moving ahead with the title changes,
Stars and Stripes reported that female service members in the Air Force were happy with the current titles.
"It should be left as it is now; it's part of our tradition," said Chief Master Sgt. Erika Schofield, who is based at the Ramstein Air Base in Britain. "Using 'man' in our titles isn't gender-specific in our career fields."
Senior Master Sgt. Andrea Cook, who is based at the Royal Air Force station in Lakenheath, Britain, agreed that she did not see any reason to change.
"I think the term 'airman' needs to stay how it is," Cook said. "It's who we are. It's part of our heritage. I've been an airman for 21 years."