You’re not that man: US Navy SEALs’ ethos becomes gender-neutral, despite team having no women in its ranks
US Navy’s commando units may have zero female officers, but they decided to change their creed to meet gender-neutral standards nevertheless, presumably to reflect the fact that women are allowed in their ranks.
The US Naval Special Warfare Command (NSWC) has quietly changed the wordings of the guiding principles for its commandos to exclude all references to gender. Every part that previously mentioned males has been edited to use words such as “warriors” or “citizens,” instead of “men” or “brothers.”
The alterations were applied to the ethos of the US Navy SEALs as well as the creed of the Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen (SWCC) – a fellow special ops team under the same command, and which follows the same grueling training program.
Also on rt.com US Special Ops secretly active in almost half of Africa, new report reveals, as military touts threat of China & RussiaA spokesman for the NSWC said the new language was necessary because the previous versions “were written prior to the law allowing women to serve as operators in Naval Special Warfare,”reported the website American Military News. The command works to “develop a culture of tactical and ethical excellence that reflects the nation we represent, and that draws upon the talents of the all-volunteer force who meet the standards of qualification as a SEAL or SWCC,” explained Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Stroup.
Deciding how to fix the obsolete guidelines apparently took some time. Women have been allowed to take combat roles in US special operations forces since 2016.
Also on rt.com Lift the ban, let in the trans – retired generals to TrumpAccording to media reports, so far only one female candidate has so far passed the two-week screening that all those wishing to join the ranks of SEAL or SWCC must undergo before even applying for the notoriously difficult 24-week Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training course. The unidentified woman didn’t list either commando team as her first choice of service, so there’s as yet no real-life counterpart for Demi Moore’s screen version of ‘G.I. Jane’.
The changes apparently enacted suggestions made in an August memo sent by the NSWC head, Rear Adm. Collin P. Green, which was leaked to the public last week.
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