True Left

The Marine Corps has been advised that its drill instructors should no longer be referred to by gendered terms like “ma’am” or “sir” — an idea that a top training leader has pushed back on.
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“The Army, Navy, and Coast Guard effectively de-emphasize gender in an integrated environment,” the report says. “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 report’s authors add, “By teaching recruits to use gender-neutral identifiers for their drill instructors, Services underscore the importance of respecting authoritative figures regardless of gender.”

Across all military branches, the Marine Corps has the smallest percentage of females serving, Marine Corps Times reported, and the branch has been slow to integrate men and women in boot camp as all other branches have already done.

The new report says Marine recruits have brushed aside female training staff in favor of male staff, who are seen as more authoritative, according to Marine Corps Times. And in one anecdote, drill instructors asked advice from a male peer while a female chief drill instructor stood ignored nearby.

It’s not clear whether the Corps will take the report’s advice. But the chief of staff for Marine Corps Training and Education Command, Col. Howard Hall, told Marine Corps Times it’s not as simple as tweaking training-level policies.

“It’s not something we would change overnight,” Hall said. “We’ve got a history of ‘sir, ma’am, sir, ma’am.’