Poor Defense Secretary Ash Carter. He is struggling, you see — not with strategies to fight ISIS or thwarting terror attacks here and abroad — but with how to make the whole of the Defense Department gender-neutral.
“One wants to signify a reality, which is a very favorable reality for us in defense, of the modern era, which is that we’re making full use of the wonderful talents of half of the population of the country,” he said. “And it would be a huge mistake not to do so.”
The Navy and Marine Corps have been busy excising the word “man” from job titles, but Carter admits one term may be a a real challenge: “unmanned.”
[H]e has yet to come up with a practical alternative for those jobs that have “unmanned” as part of the title, such as “unmanned vehicle operator.” Carter suggested that not only the titles, but also the programs and equipment might be examined for a less gender-specific name.
“We have all these programs that begin with ‘U.’ And I guess you can have a tech challenge for somebody who comes up with a word that begins with ‘U,’ which is — which — which doesn’t specify whether it’s a man or woman, but makes sure — but specifies that homo sapiens isn’t driving the thing,” he said.
Still, he said, he expected someone in the DoD to be able to come up with an acceptable alternative.
“The larger meaning is really clear,” Carter said. “We’re very clear in the department that having access to and making use of all of the talent of this country is an imperative for our national security, and we’re dead serious about doing it.”
Another term that is “resisting gender-neutralization,” according to Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Mike Stevens: “yeoman.”
“You can’t have yeo-specialist or yeo-technician, right?” he said.
Good grief. At this rate it’s only a matter of time until even this drivel infects our fighting me-, er fighting forces.
h/t to Paul Hair.
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