QUANTICO, Va. — In the face of mounting criticism, the Marine Corps Association has decided to no longer publish its annual Marine Corps Gazette Swimsuit Issue, ending a nearly century-long tradition that dates back to 1924.

The Association made the announcement after Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus publicly said he was cancelling his Gazette subscription and directed exchange stores to confine the publication to their adult materials sections, along with Hustler and the Marine Corps Times.

"We need to redouble our efforts to provide a safe and respectful environment aboard Navy and Marine Corps installations," Mabus said, "and the Gazette's juvenile flesh-peddling has no place in the modern Marine Corps."

Mabus is the latest in a long list of other military officials who have been dragged into the debate over whether a military publication featuring scantily clad women arguing over the latest trends in warfare and tactics is still appropriate. He joins former Marine commandants Gens. Charles Krulak and Al Gray, who also cancelled their subscriptions under pressure, although Gray apparently just switched to the racier Leatherneck.