The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps are getting a progressive make-over. The word 'man' will be dropped from each job and rating description to make them inclusive and gender-neutral.
Long gone are the days of ordnanceman, corpsman, or naval aircrewman- the new rating could be called ordinance person, health assistant, and aircrew assistant.
"This is one more step in how our force has changed," Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said in an interview Friday. "Our force has evolved, our force is different. And I believe it's stronger and better."
"It's time for us to let go of telling women, 'You're just included. We don't call you out by sex, but just know you're part of mankind,'" said Lory Manning, a senior fellow at the Service Women's Action Network. "When you hear that 'man' at the end, the image is a male image."
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter was asked about this proposition in May by the Associated Press.
"Signifying that in all appropriate ways is, I think, exactly that, very appropriate and needed," he responded.
Carter said that he did not have any good alternative titles for those stripped stripped of "man," but that someone smart was going to figure it out.
A female yeoman told a senior Navy official that "administrative specialist" would be a better title than yeoman.
There are some Army and Air Force titles that end in 'man' as well, but the services are not considering changing them.