What would be your gender-neutral alternative to referring to all Air Force members as "airmen"?

Why should we remove anything. Just because someone in a high position thinks it outdated really makes NO sense. On a lighter note, "Why don't we remove the problem instead of making a problem"!!

No change is necessary. This is another waste of time and resources due to "political correctness." Sounds like an instance of someone trying to pad their fitreps by fixing something that isn't broken.

Has it really gone this far in P.C. BS? Once everyone knew that with "man" in the name referred to human. Why not just explain that to the left. I know it won't help, but still I needed to say it.
I am so sorry for you Lt. Col. Cole

I am of the opinion it is civilians who most likely NEVER wore a military uniform who are telling people how we think. I personally wish they would quit attempting to use the military as their Petri dish and concentrate on the rest of society.

It's a title just like seaman in the navy
Tradition leave it alone

I am so tired of this PC BS! I agree with SrA. I'm a Navy veteran. We have some rating with "man" in them. Today's military leaders have no spine! Sorry Col.... Military has a deep tradition, in every branch. WoMAN(did that on purpose) want to be in combat if they can pass muster and standards without modification then let them at it. Leave titles alone. They are just titles referring to rank. This new PC world is killing me. Glad I served when it was ok to tell someone to "pull their fucken heads out of their ass", or being called a fucktard when you messed up. Please you officers in leadership roles at the highest level quit trying to please everyone. We join the military and somethings are just expected .

I don't know. However I would like to talk about something else that has the ability to positively affect all veterans. That is the "American Heroes COLA Act of 2015" this bill will make the Cost of living adjustment automatic based upon the consumer price index increase. However it has been hard to get it passed because not enough veterans are paying attention and voicing their support for the bill. So you may be wondering how can you make a difference in passing the bill? Veterans are the most powerful voting block and when they come together in support of an issue the house and Senate listens. So what is the disposition of the bill? At the moment it sitting in the Veterans oversight committee in the Senate awaiting for them to take it up. So can you do? We every veteran to call, write, and email the members of the oversight committee. I've done it and have had great discussionofficeSenator Tillis about it. However it seems that more pressure is needed to get the committee chairs to bring the bill up for a vote that's why we need you to make your voices heard. Once we get it out of committee then what? While you contact the committee members we want you to contact your Senator office by calling, writing, and email to ask that they support the bill and they offer three amendments to the bill once it's brought to the floor. The first would give veterans a 25% pay increase unrelated to Cost of living. The second one would allow the VA to pay Quality Of life payments to veterans who are 60% or more disabled by using the secondary disability scale making awards proportional to the veterans disability rating. The final amendment would allow the VA to make maximum pension payments to any veteran that a service connected disability rating of 100% or permanent and total disabled that not receiving any military retirement. Back dated to the original award date of 100% for maximum of three years. After the bill passes the Senate is it over? No, it will go to the house for final approval. So what then? Each veteran would need to contact their Congressman ask them to support the bill and all its amendments. How long will it take to get to the President's desk? If we work together on this we can get their before the month end. Can any of the amendments take immediate effect after the President signs the bill into law? Yes, but you have to request they be written that way.

I guess the first thing I would do is tell people upset with the title to pull their heads out of their asses. Airman, Seaman, and all their progressives have not one single thing to do with gender. Are the people butt hurt over the gender woman? I do believe there is a man in that one as well. These are not just titles, they are ranks and identifiers of your position in the armed forces, period. They were never meant as a gender identifier. No one walks up to someone and says "Hello, I'm a man", this question is nothing more than pandering to political correctness which has no place anywhere in the uniformed services. We deal with life and death situations almost on a daily basis. This has no place on our docket and should not be wasting our time.

As a generic term that describes all Air Force personnel, airman or airmen has stood the test of time. We certainly don't need the silliness of the RAF with Airman and Airwoman. As it stands, Airman is gender neutral as it applies to all personnel regardless of gender.

Okay, for fun, here are a few:
airbuddy
airchum
aircohort
aircompatriot
aircomrade
airconfederate
airconsort
aircooperator
aircrony
airfellow
airjoiner
airmate
airpal
airpeer