It isn't be a big deal, but over time the frustration adds up. I'm in a position where I am almost without exception the only woman in the room, and this has the case throughout my Marine Corps career. For many young Marines, both enlisted and officer, I am the first female they have had to work for. As a result, I have to make corrections to people all the time for inadvertently calling me "sir" whether in person or in an email (especially annoying since I have a very obviously female first name
). Normally the Marine is horrified and corrects themselves before I can even say something. I assume its an honest mistake and treat it as so.
It's similar to when I don't get saluted walking around a base that doesn't generally have many aviators and I'm in a flight suit (happens all the time at 29 Palms). The reason is they probably don't see many pilots, not that they are being willfully disrespectful.
I don't think the author "doesn't care about her Marines' combat readiness"
@Wahoo Fan (what a ridiculous statement) or has a bad attitude. The article is a simple observation, and from my anecdotal experience there are plenty of Marines for whom there just isn't an overlap between the categories of "Officers" and "Women," possibly because there are so few female officers that its' very possible to never interact with one in certain MOSs. Is it so much to ask that Marines take the extra half second to verify they have the correct greeting?
It's more difficult to tell the difference between the different senior enlisted ranks in cammies than it is to tell the difference between a man and a woman, but God forbid a LCpl call a 1stSgt a MSgt...