Army has no plans to drop 'man' from combat job titles

The Army’s grunts and tankers will still be referred to as infantrymen and armor crewmen even as the service integrates women into these previously all-male specialties.

“While our policies are perpetually under review, there are currently no immediate plans at this point to change terms,” said Lt. Col. Jerry Pionk, an Army spokesman.

Since Defense Secretary Ash Carter in December announced his decision to lift all gender-based restrictions on military service, there have been discussions about whether certain terms in the military should give way to more gender-neutral names.

In January, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus ordered the Navy and Marine Corps to review all of their job titles and consider removing references to “man” from titles such as corpsman, yeoman, fireman and seaman in order to make them gender-neutral.

The Navy and Marine Corps are now wrapping up those reviews, but the effort is deeply unpopular with troops.

The Air Force in January said it will not review its gender-specific titles.
For the Army, the two big combat military occupational specialties with non-gender neutral titles are infantryman and M1 armor crewman. Other combat MOSs, such as fire support specialist, cannon crewmember and cavalry scout, already have gender-neutral titles.

The Army also informally already uses terms such as “infantry officer” or “infantry soldier.”

“It is important to note the suffix ‘man’ itself is really derived from the word ‘human,’” Pionk said. “This is why you still see the Air Force use airman for all their personnel, or policeman or Congressman and even woman.”

He added that the word “woman” comes from the Old English word “wifmann,” then “wumman,” which means “female human.”