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Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, in a crusade to eliminate gender discrimination in the fleet, was determined to remove all references to “man” in the various ratings titles in the Navy. And in response, rather than telling SecNav that he was looking for a solution to a non-existent problem, the CNO, the former Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, and the Chief of Naval Personnel went off and came up with a complete redesign of the personnel policy of the Navy without so much as running it through the normal staffing process, and more importantly, maybe mentioning in passing to the hundreds of thousands of Sailors that would be affected by such a plan.

Beyond a small working group, convened this past summer and led by then-Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Mike Stevens, next-to no one in the Navy saw this change coming, sources with knowledge of the decision-making process say. And it’s been received with near universal contempt by sailors past and present. Stevens, who retired in September after four years in the top enlisted post, has discussed that process at length with Navy Times going back to the summer. Stevens said he had full support from the service’s top admiral, Chief of Naval Operations John Richardson, and Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Adm. Robert Burke.
“I felt it was not optional,” Stevens said, “but my duty to lead this effort, knowing all along that there would be controversy attached to it.” The former MCPON, as the position is known throughout the service, says he believes the move is necessary and that now Navy leaders “must follow through.”

Could the Navy personnel system use an update? Maybe. But this wholesale change in the name of gender equality, which suddenly has morphed into better translation to civilian skills, reeks of change for the sake of change. And one is reminded of Jeff Goldblum- they spent so much time thinking about if they could, and never any time thinking if they should.

As one Pacific Fleet Master Chief said:

When the order came down to provide feedback about possible gender-neutral ratings changes, most sailors were cynical, the command master chief said. Many, wondered why the Navy was prioritizing the issue. “No one,” he added, “not a single sailor — across paygrade and gender lines –  I spoke with saw the need to change the names of ratings based on gender neutrality.”