Marine Corps should ditch ‘gender-specific’ terms for drill instructors: report

An academic report is recommending the U.S. Marine Corps get rid of “gender-specific salutations” for drill instructors.

The report, commissioned in 2020 by the Corps from the University of Pittsburgh, was completed in 2022. It notes that other military branches have made strides to “de-emphasize gender” by using other names. 

“The Army, Navy, and Coast Guard effectively de-emphasize gender in an integrated environment,” the 783-page report reads. “Instead of saying ‘ma’am’ or ‘sir,’ recruits in these Services refer to their drill instructors using their ranks or roles followed by their last names. Gendered identifiers prime recruits to think about or visually search for a drill instructor’s gender first, before their rank or role.”

The proposal is being considered by Marine Corps leadership but some have concerns.

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Chief of Staff for Marine Corps Training and Education Command, Col. Howard Hall shared his concerns during a Dec. 6 meeting with the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services, the Military Times reported.

“Honestly, that’s not a quick fix. What are we inculcating in our young recruits that will or will not be reinforced when they graduate and enter the fleet Marine force?,” he said. “So again, we want to avoid any quick-fix solutions that introduce perturbations down the line.”

The report was part of an effort by the military branch to integrate boot camp. Until 2019, all female recruits were trained in a single battalion at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina. Women now train at both Marine Corps boot camps, the other being the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, but training materials have been slow to catch up to that reality, the Military Times reported.

The report focuses on how the Maines Corps uplifts male Marines by using masculine language and allegedly ignoring female Marines. It found the PowerPoint slides from the San Diego recruiting depot used all male pronouns to describe leadership traits. “

“A leader who is confident in his decisions instills confidence in his Marines,” one line read. 

The study also found that female Marine drill instructors were sometimes treated as less important than their male counterparts. The authors suggested that getting rid of “sir” and “ma’am” in favor of the neutral “drill instructor” would help balance such behavior, the Times reported. 

“Gender-neutral identifiers are an unambiguous, impartial way to circumvent these issues,” the authors wrote. “Employing gender-neutral identifiers eliminates the possibility of misgendering drill instructors, which can unintentionally offend or cause discord. By teaching recruits to use gender-neutral identifiers for their drill instructors, Services underscore the importance of respecting authoritative figures regardless of gender.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Marines Corps for comment.