Woke 'nonsense is infecting’ the armed forces says Mercer

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The move was announced in the November issue of the RAF magazine AirClues. But the decision to drop the terms “airmen” and “airwomen” has sparked controversy.

GB News presenter Colin Brazier wrote on Twitter: “The RAF today said it will no longer use the word ‘airman’, preferring instead ‘aviator’.

“It says ‘we should describe all of our personnel in a modern and appropriate manner’.

“Maybe the RAF should spend more time preparing combat pilots for real enemies, not semantic ones.”

Patrick Mercer, former Conservative MP and ex-Army colonel, described the change as “woke b*******.”

He told the Mail on Sunday: “For years I had airmen and airwomen under my command.

“You have two perfectly good, historic, tried and tested terms which have never caused any difficulties or problems. It is needless wokery.

“If you are going to do this sort of thing, presumably the idea of women service people wearing skirts and doing up their tunics differently to men needs to stop too.

“There’s also a cost implication due to the sheer bureaucracy of scrapping signs and letters saying airmen and women. It’s nonsense — woke b*******.”

Speaking on GB News, he added: “Warfare is tough, warfare is difficult, warfare is about killing people and not getting killed yourself.

“That’s why our airmen and women draw their pay. It’s not about worrying whether the next cartridge you fire is carbon neutral. It’s not about worrying that the blood you spill is going to contaminate the atmosphere.

“It’s about getting on with the job and completely ignoring the woke nonsense which seems to be infecting the whole of our society and sadly our Armed Forces.”

The move was also criticised by Twitter users.

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One with the handle @IknowNooothing wrote: “As an ex RAF airman I cannot believe what is happening to the armed forces.

“We seem to be undermining the disciple and things that are important for no reason whatsoever. China and Russia must be laughing at us.”

Another user, @aclr1972, posted a smirking face emoji and said: “I’m sure it will give those who would like to go to war with us second thoughts.”

However, some agreed with the change. Twitter user @FlaviusFX wrote: “Great stuff, aviator sound so much better.”

The RAF said the new gender-neutral term would “bring right up to date the way we should describe all of our personnel in a modern and appropriate manner”.

A notice in the AirClues magazine reads: “By the way, if that’s the first time you’ve heard the term ‘aviator’ … then get on board. No longer does it mean just aircrew, but the term ‘aviator’ has now replaced the generic term of ‘airman’ to bring right up to date the way we should describe all of our personnel in a modern and appropriate manner.”

Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston said: “With more than one in five of our recruits now women, the title ‘airmen’ does not reflect a modern, diverse Royal Air Force.

“Our business is aviation. The Army has soldiers, the Royal Navy has sailors and the Royal Air Force has aviators.”

Express.co.uk has contacted the RAF for comment.

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