S
sailor – Use lowercase when referring to a member of the U.S. Navy.
school liaison – Use lowercase. Do not use the term school liaison officer.
second lady or second gentleman – As an exception to the AP Stylebook, capitalize Second Lady or Second Gentleman as a formal title when using it before a name. Lowercase in other uses.
secretary of defense – Capitalize as a formal title before a name. Lowercase in other uses. With regard to the secretary of defense under President Donald J. Trump, always use Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, not Peter Hegseth, per his preference. Do not use Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
series – Lowercase. This is sometimes used to describe podcast series that include the Military OneSource Podcast and the Office of Special Needs EFMP Podcast. Both podcasts have a series of episodes about a variety of military-life topics. Example: Military OneSource Podcast series.
service affiliation – As a general rule, put service affiliation before rank. Do not use when it is obvious: Gen. John T. Smith, commander of the Air Force Space Command. However, always use it for people in unified combatant commands – Marine Corps Maj. John D. Smith, a U.S. Central Command spokesperson – and in any other case where the affiliation would not be obvious to people with little knowledge of the military rank structure or the service in general. Use the service even with ranks used only in that service, such as lance corporal, gunnery sergeant, sergeant first class, etc. While the person's service affiliation would be obvious to people with that level of knowledge, MC&FP stories should be clear to any reader.
service, services – Lowercase all references to service or services. When referencing a specific military service, capitalize the term and use this order of precedence:
- Army
- Marine Corps
- Navy
- Air Force
- Space Force
- Coast Guard
- Army National Guard
- Army Reserve
- Navy Reserve
- Marine Corps Reserve
- Air National Guard
- Air Force Reserve
- Coast Guard Reserve
- Defense Department service provider
- Defense Department Expeditionary Civilian workforce
- When referring to the National Guard and the reserves together, the National Guard comes first.
- Use "U.S." before service names only when the context is unclear without it.
serviceman, servicewoman, servicemen, servicewomen – One word; use lowercase in all references, but service member.
service member – Written as two words, use lowercase in all references. One exception is if the term servicemember is part of an official title such as the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance or the Office of Servicemember Affairs.
soldier – Lowercase when referring to a member of the U.S. Army.
Space Force – Capitalize references to U.S. forces: the U.S. Space Force, the Space Force. Do not use USSF. Use this order of precedence for the Space Force: Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard. Use "U.S." before service names only when the context is unclear without it. Space Force service members are referred to as guardians.
special needs – Use the phrase family member with special needs as opposed to special needs family member. The needs do not define the individual.
