Totally agree. I personally either use Cougar, Puma, or say the entire name 'mountain lion.' I've seen a cougar upclose, and while in Kenya seen a lion upclose, and there is no comparison between the two apart from they both look cat-ish. A cougar cannot even roar, and in terms of damage dealing capacity one can easily be lethal to (say) a jogging woman, while the other can take of any human's head clean off with one good swipe of its paw.
Also, this cougar was weird ...it telegraphed its actions (as in, he SAW it). A prowling cat after you will be a couple of feet away in terminal charge before you even realize something is up. This was probably a confused starving cat that thought it could make an opportunistic meal out of a Marine, which was quite dumb on the cat's side.
Accounts of man-eating lions in Africa, and particularly man-eating leopards in Africa and India, show how a true jungle-cat that wants human chow operates. The humans never know what hit them, and even when they know there is little they can do about it.
With that said, this Marine is amazing. Quick thinking, good improvisation, and a happy ending.