Posted on Mar 31, 2016
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Navy's top enlisted leader is wrapping up job title review. Intent is to remove "man" from job titles, such as corpsman, to make them gender neutral. All Air Force members are referred to as "airmen" and three enlisted ranks include "man" in their title. What would you suggest as an alternative to "airman"? (You can have fun with this, but serious alternatives also are appreciated.)
Airman
Gender
Political Correctness
Edited 10 y ago
Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 557
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MSgt Devon Saunders
SPC (Join to see) - I agree!! Commen sense died about 10 years ago. I was at the funeral...
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MSG John Wirts
CPT (Join to see) - How about the public school in the Midwest that to avoid the derogatory terms Boys and girls, called all students "purple penguins" I wonder if the school employees were alspo called purple penguins?
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CPT (Join to see)
MSG John Wirts - Excellent. Fighting ridiculousness with ridiculousness. The adults should be referred to as "Magenta". It is disheartening that it takes such an extreme display to make a point...
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Man is also found in the term Human. That is something that we All are. As a woman, I disagree with this topic and line of thinking. There are many other much more important issues to focus on. Not this.
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CPT (Join to see)
Precisely! That is why you make the big bucks ma'am. Anyone who doesn't pick up on that is illiterate and needs to go to BSEP.
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MSG William Wold
Army is easy, they are called Soldiers, no man or woman in it. We could call them Smurfs since they are in blue, but here's the Army going to blue class A's.
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CPT (Join to see)
I agree that you don't have a problem. It's the people with the problem that have the problem. ;)
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SGT Trisha Butler
Exactly...the people pushing for this change probably don't even and never have served...
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I can not believe that as a service we have come to this level of mediocracy. How about still calling us airman?
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SGM (Join to see)
TSgt Frank Shirley - Because I have no way of knowing IF you are handicapped OR what your handicap is, then I can't attack you as a handicapped person - because I don't know you're handicapped! I am also a disabled veteran with vision problems. If you can read all our posts with small letters, that takes care of that. I don't know of any other accommodation aids for people with vision or typing problems, such as voice transcription tools, special keyboards, or other such devices, that will only work in capital letters. I used to assist the office supporting a very large government agency in testing those kinds of tools, so I have a pretty good idea what's available.
So I wouldn't attack someone who was handicapped by a visual or other communication problem because I am handicapped by those very problems myself. I know there are ways to get around those problems. I was trying to politely let you know that typing in all caps is considered rude in the Internet community, because it's considered the same thing as shouting at people in a conversation. That's all. It is a fairly common and well-known fact. I apologize if you thought I was being rude or attacking you. I was simply trying to point out something I know was bothering me and likely many others, and to save you some embarrassment.
So I wouldn't attack someone who was handicapped by a visual or other communication problem because I am handicapped by those very problems myself. I know there are ways to get around those problems. I was trying to politely let you know that typing in all caps is considered rude in the Internet community, because it's considered the same thing as shouting at people in a conversation. That's all. It is a fairly common and well-known fact. I apologize if you thought I was being rude or attacking you. I was simply trying to point out something I know was bothering me and likely many others, and to save you some embarrassment.
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SGM (Join to see)
you're a very funny man, shirley. my strong suggestion would be to use your right hand, before you start typing, and hit the CAPS LOCK key to turn it off. then just type everything in lowercase. that way you aren't seen as shouting at everyone, your messages are still very readable, and your handicap isn't affected any more than with the caps lock key on. have a nice day.
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Lt Col (Join to see)
SGM (Join to see) - I know several people who in the course of military service struggle with certain tasks including typing, using left or right parts of their bodies and reading type. Are we this nit picky or have we forgotten that we just completed 15 years of war and many people have disabilities?
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SGM (Join to see)
Lt Col (Join to see) - I didn't know if he had a handicap or not. I was just letting him know about normal online etiquette to save him some future embarrassment. If you'll look two posts above yours at my post to Frank, you'll see that I apologized to him and offered some assistive tips from my experiences as a fellow disabled vet. I happen to be 100% disabled myself with neurologic disorders stemming from brain changes caused by toxic exposures in the first Gulf War. Although it was a very short war, nearly 250,000 of us suffer from Gulf War Illness (GWI) that now, 25 years later, is still denied by the VA and still has no treatments and no known specific causes.
So although I don't owe you any explanation, my problems are similar to many with GWI. I suffer from short-term and long-term memory loss, primary tremor in my hands and legs, vision problems, neuropathy in both arms and legs, and chronic intense pain, in addition to much more. This all while suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome and a sleep disorder where I don't sleep for 4 or 5 days at a time, then sleep for a week, but only during daylight hours, then 2 or 3 days of no sleep again, then 3 days of a few hours sleep each day, and on and on. So you needn't lecture me about understanding the difficulties of people with disabilities and typing. If you only knew what I went through just to type this with my dyslexic typing, having to delete at least five characters for every eight typed. But thank you for your well-intentioned comments.
So although I don't owe you any explanation, my problems are similar to many with GWI. I suffer from short-term and long-term memory loss, primary tremor in my hands and legs, vision problems, neuropathy in both arms and legs, and chronic intense pain, in addition to much more. This all while suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome and a sleep disorder where I don't sleep for 4 or 5 days at a time, then sleep for a week, but only during daylight hours, then 2 or 3 days of no sleep again, then 3 days of a few hours sleep each day, and on and on. So you needn't lecture me about understanding the difficulties of people with disabilities and typing. If you only knew what I went through just to type this with my dyslexic typing, having to delete at least five characters for every eight typed. But thank you for your well-intentioned comments.
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I vote "Airman". It rolls off the tongue nicely and has for many decades, Sir. :)
If one is so thin-skinned as to have strife with this as ones titling, perhaps that individual is in the wrong industry. Just my $0.02.
If one is so thin-skinned as to have strife with this as ones titling, perhaps that individual is in the wrong industry. Just my $0.02.
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CMSgt (Join to see)
MSgt Steven Holt, NRP, CCEMT-P -
Thank you, good Sir! Your kind words keep me motivated! :)
Thank you, good Sir! Your kind words keep me motivated! :)
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SFC Michael Barnett
I could maybe use Dirt Bag, hey you are shit head. How do those work for you guys?
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"Zoomie". Can we be called "Zoomie"? Obviously as it fits into the rank structure currently we should drop the single word for "all of us" as well as an E-2 that is "Airman". I suggest the following:
Newbie Zoomie
Zoomie Steerage
Zoomie First Class
Senior Zoomie
Some folks might not like these suggestions very much but I think we should at least consider them. This is about brainstorming.
Newbie Zoomie
Zoomie Steerage
Zoomie First Class
Senior Zoomie
Some folks might not like these suggestions very much but I think we should at least consider them. This is about brainstorming.
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CWO4 Al Heb
CWO4 Al Heb - My point is the Air Force was even a brach of the armed forces in either WWI or WWII. Thats my POINT
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As the cartoon I saw this morning said; "I am worried about our country collapsing under the weight of our debt, and WWIII starting, and we are arguing over gender descriptions, and wedding cakes :-)
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Women have complimented men and vice versa our entire existence. If it was any other way we would be extinct. Often, the best way to improve something is to change nothing.
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CPT Mark Gonzalez
I blame my iPhone, but I agree your version of complement is right in this situation.
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Sgt Den OBrien
Don't worry about it Cap. I just got a new MAC computer and it's like having a nun standing behind me smacking me in the head and "correcting" my spelling to reflect what they THINK I'm typing. Sheesh.
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There is no alternative. Our military has a strong sense of tradition. Those civilians in charge currently have no idea about military tradition and ceremony. Those officers that go along with this political correctness need too retire immediately!
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