At the behest of Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, the Marine Corps will soon integrate male and female trainees during boot camp and drop ‘man’ from all job titles and positions. This directive, which was announced in a memo distributed to Marine Corps brass on Jan. 1, is the latest step towards full gender integration in the U.S. military.

The Marine Corps has been resistant to opening combat roles to women, but Mabus has continually pressured the branch to move forward with this military-wide change. Top Marine officials have until Jan. 15 to submit a plan to Mabus detailing how boot camp integration would take place.

“Colocation does not meet the requirement for gender integrated training,” Mabus wrote in the memo. “This plan will complete [the Department of the Navy’s] implementation plan and ensure full integration of female sailors and Marines within the DON in accordance with [Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s] guidance.”

Mabus gave the Marines until April 1 to revise job titles such as infantryman and reconnaissance man to no longer include gendered language like ‘man.’

The Marine Corps was the only branch to request an exemption from the military’s gender integration plan after an experimental co-ed infantry unit yielded mixed results. The ensuing controversy surrounding the study’s methods resulted in a hostile back-and-forth between Mabus, who thought the Marines had misconstrued the data on purpose, and Marines, who were offended that Mabus would distrust them. 

Controversy aside, Mabus is charging full speed ahead with these reforms and expects the Marine Corps to do so as well.

“As the Marine Corps adds elements such as the leadership plan that includes the goals of female leadership teams, cohesive cohorts, and mentors, I expect you will ensure that a worthwhile goal does not unreasonably delay or prevent the execution of a policy imperative,” he wrote.