A Capital Idea
February 9, 2009 -
Sometimes problems are large. Just ask Citibank or Barry Bonds. Other times problems seem small, but are still important. I’ve been grappling with the latter—when to use lower or upper case letters in museum materials.
In which sentence do you think the capitalization is correct?
- Our museum will honor soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, and cost guardsmen, plus reservists and national guardsmen, who defended our freedoms in times of war.
- Our museum will honor soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen, and Cost Guardsmen, plus Reservists and National Guardsmen, who defended our freedoms in times of war.
- Our museum will honor Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen, and Cost Guardsmen, plus Reservists and National Guardsmen, who defended our freedoms in times of war.
I ran this dilemma by a veterans committee representing the different branches and inquired at the Pentagon. Guess what? There were several answers and no long-standing policy regarding capitalization for these generic terms when referring to United Sates military personnel.
The Army, Navy, and Air Force have largely been OK with lower case, but there are lots of exceptions. General Petraeus insisted on capitalizing Soldier, for example. A Marine may say that Marine is always capitalized, but I can easily find places where marine isn’t capitalized. And so on…
My decision? We will capitalize Soldier, Sailor, Marine, Airman, Coast Guardsman, Reservist, and National Guardsman in every case when we are referring to member of the United States military. I believe that is what the Pentagon prefers now as well. So sentence #3 above is now our standard.
I say these military men and women deserve our respect and admiration…and Capitalization. Hooah!
