Naming Names

The House Armed Services Committee mark-up of the fiscal year 2012 defense budget calls for the Department of the Navy to be renamed the Department of the Navy and the Marine Corps.

The mark-up, which was released today, would also change the position of Navy secretary to the secretary of the Navy and Marine Corps.

“This section would formally recognize the responsibility of the Office of the Secretary of the Navy over both the Navy and Marine Corps and the Marine Corps’ status as an equal partner with the Navy.,” the mark-up states.

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos told lawmakers during his confirmation hearing last fall that he believed the time was ripe for a name change.

“Where we are in 2010 today, because of where we have evolved, we are a pretty formidable force for our nation,” he said before the Senate Armed Services Committee in September. “And I think just viscerally . . . the average fleet Marine would look at the secretary [of the Navy] and say, 'Yeah, I'd like him to be called the secretary of the Navy and the secretary of the Marine Corps.'"

He added: "We paid a pretty healthy price in the last nine to 10 years of combat and we feel pretty relevant right now."

The debate over whether to rename the department has been ongoing in Congress for several years.