In the army male soldiers are often called “ladies” and other effeminate names. I wonder, what do they call the women soldiers when they want to insult them?
Also are their R. Lee Ermey type drill officers for the females? Would they say any of the things he would say like homosexual references?
Using “ladies” as an insult or making any kind of homosexual reference as a means to embarrass or harass someone is a good way to get fired, demoted and possibly removed from the service altogether. And yes, there are women drill sergeants.
To head off the next question, Officers in the Pentagon don’t tell every Enlisted Sailor they see to “drop and give me twenty” either.
“Hey, Vasquez, have you ever been mistaken for a man?”
“No. Have you?”
I did BCT at Fort Jackson and I had a female drill sergeant(and two male ones), and they could not curse at us or question our manhood apparently. Despite that, their yelling was still very effective and articulate. Do they take classes for that or is that just something you have to naturally do well to be a drill sergeant?
In 1989 I had one Drill Sergeant who did not curse due to his religious convictions. Apparently none of the other Drills had the same beliefs.
Spanish officers and noncoms have been banned from “foul language” for centuries; the result is an amazing ability to make any kind of word sound like an insult. I had a boss who was very what-I-say-goes, never cussed but always left us feeling like we’d been hearing a sailor-cussing contest; we used to say “he’s such a sergeant!”. Turns out he’d been a demolitions sergeant…