Musician

You are the newest professional musician in a formation of professionals. The band already expects you to perform at the level that got you selected — your job for the first year is to prove that audition was a floor, not a ceiling.

You passed a competitive audition — Navy Band Washington or a fleet-band audition panel — and now you are in the ensemble. There is no traditional A-school: your instrument proficiency is what earned the billet, and rehearsal starts the week you check in. Daily life is rehearsals (sectional and full ensemble), stand-by gear maintenance, uniform preparation for the next ceremony, and the administrative onboarding every new Sailor absorbs — direct access, medical, TRICARE, PRT sign-ups, PQS watch quals. You play parades, formal reviews, retirement and change-of-command ceremonies, holiday concerts, and diplomatic receptions at whatever tempo the command schedule demands. The music is the mission, and the section leader and conductor are both watching every stand, every page turn, every measure.

• 01Execute your instrument parts — primary and any doubling requirements — at the performance standard the command expects cold, without warm-up time on ceremony day.
• 02Read and sight-read all standard military march repertoire (Sousa, Goldman, King) plus the ceremonial canon: National Anthem, Ruffles and Flourishes, Honors for each flag-officer grade, four ruffles, "Anchors Aweigh," "The Star-Spangled Banner" at performance tempo.
• 03Tune quickly and accurately across ensembles — concert, marching, jazz combo, brass quintet, or ceremonial ensemble depending on your billet assignment.
• 04Maintain your instrument and all issued equipment to the standard the section leader inspects; reeds, mutes, oil, valve slides, bow hair — nothing fails on stage.
• 05Execute parade-movement drill: Navy ceremonial march, halt, mark-time, dress right, eyes right; instrument position under inspection; parade rest with instrument.
• 06Study Navy ratings and rank insignia, understand the protocol for who receives what honors, and execute those honors without a rehearsal check the morning of.

• —OPNAVINST 5720.14 (series) — Navy Music Program policy: billet structure, performance standards, audition requirements.
• —NAVPERS 18068 Vol II — NEC catalog for MU rating (performance specialty codes); understand which NECs are assigned and what they open.
• —U.S. Navy Ceremonial Guide / Navy Ceremonial Handbook (command-issued) — official honors, ruffles, flourishes, and the protocol chain that governs ceremony execution.
• —OPNAVINST 6110.1 — Navy Physical Readiness Program; MU sailors take the PRT and BCA on the same schedule as every other rate.
• —MILPERSMAN 1910-116 (Separation by Reason of Convenience of the Government) — the clause most relevant to performers who cannot sustain audition-level proficiency; know it exists.

• —Maintain instrument proficiency at or above the performance standard that earned selection — the section leader assesses continuously, not on an annual cycle.
• —PRT Good Low or higher; BCA in standard — Navy Band commands do not exempt performers from physical readiness, and the section notices who takes PT seriously.
• —Parade-drill execution clean enough to put on the Mall in front of dignitaries the first month on the job — rehearsal is real, not a courtesy.
• —Uniform and instrument gear squared for every performance: creases, shoes, instrument in working order, no rust, no broken pads, no loose hardware.
• —PQS / 301-series watch qualifications completed on the LCPO's timeline — small commands still stand duty, and the junior musician who is last on the qual board is visible.

• —Missing a stand cue, page turn, or repeat sign during a live ceremony. The silence carries across a parade deck in front of flag officers — it does not go unnoticed.
• —Coming to rehearsal unprepared on your part. Sight-reading a piece everyone else has drilled is disrespectful to the ensemble and shows up in the section leader's next evaluation conversation.
• —Letting your instrument fall into disrepair. A cracked reed, a stuck slide, a dead battery on an electronic tuner — all of it is your fault, and all of it surfaces at the worst moment.
• —Treating the uniform inspection as a suggestion. One broken trouser crease in a formal ceremony is the thing the officer in charge remembers about the section.
• —Posting performance details — ceremony dates, protectee information, guest list, location security posture — to social media. MU sailors at diplomatic and flag-level events handle sensitive protocol information; treat it as such.

The good junior musician is the one the section lead seats next to a senior performer rather than at the far end of the stand — they are reliable, they have the page turned before anyone else, and the section never has to cover a wrong note from their chair. By the end of the first year the conductor knows their name because they asked a musical question after a rehearsal, not because they had an incident.

You are a petty officer in a small, elite community where everyone in the room heard your audition. The crow means you own a section stand and a junior musician is already watching how you carry the rate.

You are an established ensemble voice now — the audition that got you here is history and what matters is what you contribute to every performance. You hold a principal or section chair, you play the full range of the command's mission: official ceremonies for flag officers and civilian leadership, public concert series, diplomatic receptions, holiday performances at major venues, sometimes joint-service events or overseas tours depending on your command. You start mentoring MUSN and other junior MU3s informally — in sectionals, in uniform prep, in the drill rehearsal the conductor walks when something is off. The NWAE for MU2 is on your horizon; pull the bibliography and own it. If you are at Navy Band Washington, the complexity and visibility of the mission is higher than any fleet band; if you are at a fleet band, the tempo is different but the standard is not.

• 01Lead your section stand through a full ceremony without direction from the section leader — tempo, intonation, dynamics, and cutoffs are your responsibility in the moment.
• 02Perform across the command's full ensemble palette: concert band, marching ensemble, ceremonial brass ensemble, and the small-ensemble sub-unit your billet assigns (jazz combo, woodwind quintet, brass quintet, strolling strings, or similar).
• 03Rehearse independently on technical passages the ensemble has flagged — not waiting for the sectional to identify them.
• 04Execute the full Navy honors protocol for O-7 through O-10 (and civilian equivalents) without reference material on ceremony day: who gets what, in what order, how many ruffles.
• 05Manage your own uniform and instrument logistics for back-to-back performance days — including the judgment call of when to report a uniform or instrument problem before it becomes a ceremony problem.
• 06Mentor a junior musician in the drill element and uniform standards without being asked; section culture is built one performance at a time.

• —OPNAVINST 5720.14 (series) — MU program policy; the assignment, performance standard, and retention language the detailer quotes.
• —NAVPERS 18068 Vol II — NEC catalog; understand your assigned specialty code and the options that open with additional performance certifications.
• —NWAE Bibliography (BIB) for MU2 cycle — pull from MyNavyHR / NETC as soon as the cycle opens; the MU NWAE tests music theory, Navy history, and rate knowledge.
• —U.S. Navy Ceremonial Guide / Ceremonial Handbook — carry the current edition; protocol evolves with each SecDef policy memo.
• —OPNAVINST 6110.1 — PRT/BCA standard; Good Medium or better is the goal at this tier.

• —NWAE for MU2 prep on the section leader's timeline — the MU community is small enough that the Warrant Officer and the Command Master Chief know every candidate by name.
• —Principal or established section chair maintained at performance tempo across the command's full repertoire — if the section leader reassigns your chair, that conversation has already happened with the Warrant Officer.
• —PRT Good Medium or better; BCA in standard.
• —eEVAL trait average supporting a Must Promote (MP) recommendation — the MU community is small and the block-read at the Chief board is done by people who have heard you play.
• —Small-ensemble proficiency certified in at least one sub-unit format beyond full concert ensemble (strolling, combo, quintet, solo with piano) — billet flexibility matters in a tiny community.

• —Playing through a section mistake rather than flagging it in rehearsal. The conductor cannot fix what no one names; the stand leader who stays silent about an intonation problem owns it on performance day.
• —Treating the small-ensemble rotation as optional. MU billets require versatility; the petty officer who can only perform in the full ensemble is a single-point-of-failure the command notices.
• —Missing the BIB cycle start. The NWAE for a small rate is not forgiving — there are not enough sailors for a curve. The candidates who pull the bibliography late are the ones reading their competitor's name on the advancement results.
• —Taking a "good enough" approach to your instrument upkeep between tours. Back-to-back performances with no maintenance window is the norm — the musician who does maintenance between events never has a stage failure.
• —Posting ceremony-specific details or protectee information before the public release window. Diplomatic and VIP events have PAO release timelines; the section leader briefs them for a reason.

The good MU3 is the section stand the Warrant Officer knows will anchor a sub-section when a senior performer is unavailable. The junior musicians in the section come to them with the tuning question before rehearsal; their eEVAL bullets are performance metrics and named ceremonies, not filler adjectives. They are on the NWAE list before the Chief has to remind them.

You are the working senior musician. The section calls you by rate now, the Warrant Officer is watching your rehearsal leadership, and the section leader conversation is no longer abstract.

You carry a principal or first-chair stand assignment and you run sectionals — you are the rehearsal leader when the conductor or the Warrant Officer steps out of the room. You train and mentor MU3s and MUSNs formally: intonation coaching, uniform prep, drill execution, the NWAE BIB, and the professional conduct of the section on and off the performance stage. At Navy Band Washington the mission complexity escalates — state visits, White House events, Pentagon ceremonies, national-venue concerts — and your name is on the section leadership list for those events. At a fleet band you run a section, carry the small-ensemble calendar, and know the detailing cycle well enough to have the career conversation with your LPO about the Washington assignment, the retention bonus, and what the MU1 and Chief competitive windows look like. The section leader is your mentor; the Warrant Officer is your evaluator; the community is small enough that your reputation follows you to the next command the week you check in.

• 01Lead a full sectional — warm-up, intonation, technical passages, repertoire run — without the Warrant Officer or Director in the room and produce a section that is tighter for the time.
• 02Perform all primary and doubling requirements assigned to your billet at the performance standard required for the Navy's highest-visibility ceremonies without a warm-up day.
• 03Coach a junior musician through a performance problem — intonation, tempo, technique, nerves — with the directness and precision of a peer mentor, not a cheerleader.
• 04Manage the small-ensemble calendar for your sub-unit: scheduling, rehearsal planning, music selection within command guidelines, and the logistic details that make the event actually happen.
• 05Write an eEVAL bullet that names a ceremony, a solo, a tour, or a teaching outcome in measurable terms — the Chief board reads what you produce, not what the Warrant Officer imagines you did.
• 06Operate the command's music library and logistics as assigned: catalog, issue, condition tracking — the library is a shared resource the whole ensemble depends on.

• —OPNAVINST 5720.14 (series) — re-read the retention and performance-standard sections at MU2; they are more relevant than they were as a junior musician.
• —NAVPERS 18068 Vol II — NEC catalog; review the specialty codes that distinguish fleet-band billets from Washington-band billets and plan accordingly.
• —NWAE BIB for MU1 cycle — pull it the week the cycle opens; the MU1 NWAE at a small rate tests at the detail level.
• —MILPERSMAN 1306.2 series — detailing and assignment policy; understand the Washington Band versus fleet-band rotation and how assignment requests are processed.
• —OPNAVINST 6110.1 — PRT/BCA; Good High or better is where you want to be at MU2.

• —NWAE for MU1 with a study log the section leader can see; the community is small enough that the Warrant Officer and the CMC know which candidates are prepared and which are coasting.
• —Principal or section-lead chair maintained and the section leader does not have to correct a stand-level issue in front of the ensemble.
• —PRT Good High or better; BCA in standard.
• —eEVAL trait average and ranking that supports EP/MP recommendation — at a command of 30-80 sailors, the ranking is personal and the Chief board has context.
• —Small-ensemble certification in two or more formats beyond the full concert ensemble — versatility is a retention and billet-assignment lever in a tiny community.

• —Running a sectional without a measurable outcome. The Warrant Officer asks what improved; "it went well" is not an answer. Name the passage, name the fix, name the before and after.
• —Letting your NEC profile stagnate. The MU community is small and billet competition is real; the sailor with one performance specialty is outcompeted by the sailor with two when the assignment slate goes to NPC.
• —Confusing section-level rehearsal authority with artistic direction. You lead the section; you do not override the Warrant Officer or Director on repertoire, tempo, or musical interpretation.
• —Going around the section leader to the Warrant Officer on a personnel issue. The chain is the chain; the community is small enough that the Warrant Officer knows before you finish the conversation.
• —Skipping the career-timeline conversation at MU2. The window for the Washington Band assignment, the MU1 slate, and the Chief packet starts being built now — not at MU1.

The good MU2 is the sailor the Warrant Officer names when a visiting flag officer asks who led that sectional. Their section is tighter than when they found it, their MU3s have NWAE study plans, and their eEVAL blocks name solo performances, tours, and coaching outcomes in language a Chief board reads as concrete. They are on the MU1 slate before the section leader has to push.

You are the LPO of the section. The Warrant Officer and the Director call you by name; the MU2s watch how you handle a bad rehearsal; and the Chief packet conversation is already in the room even if no one has said it out loud.

You are section leader or principal stand in a full Navy Band command. You write eEVALs for two-to-four MU2s and MU3s, run the training plan for the section, manage the small-ensemble rotation under your section's umbrella, and represent enlisted performance quality in the command's operational planning. At Navy Band Washington the assignment is a prestige billet — you are performing at state funerals, inaugurations, national memorial events, and overseas tours that represent the Navy to audiences that include foreign heads of state. At a fleet band you carry the section and the administrative weight of an LPO, manage the section's PRT and BCA readiness, and mentor the pipeline toward the Washington Band and toward the Chief board. The Chief board is real: a small community means the Warrant Officer has an opinion about every MU1, and the eEVAL you build this year is read by a selection board that knows this rate deeply.

• 01Run the section's training and performance calendar — rehearsal plans, small-ensemble scheduling, sectional outcomes, uniform and gear accountability — at a standard the Warrant Officer can brief to the Commanding Officer.
• 02Write eEVAL bullets for MU2s and MU3s that name ceremonies, tours, solo performances, and teaching outcomes in block-readable language; the Chief board at NPC reads what you produce.
• 03Lead a full rehearsal in the Warrant Officer's or Director's absence — warm-up, intonation, repertoire work, tempo drills — and deliver the section tighter than you found it.
• 04Manage the section's PRT/BCA, IMR, PQS, and any watch-bill requirements as the LPO; readiness brief to the CMC is your name on the line.
• 05Mentor at least one MU2 from NWAE preparation through selection — and counsel honestly about the Chief board timeline, the Washington Band assignment, and the post-Navy performance market.
• 06Operate as the senior enlisted performance voice in planning meetings: concert programming, ceremony scheduling, diplomatic-event coordination — your input shapes the command's musical product.

• —OPNAVINST 5720.14 (series) — the LPO who does not know the music program instruction is the LPO who cannot defend a scheduling or performance-standard decision.
• —NAVPERS 18068 Vol II — NEC catalog; you manage the section's NEC profile and the billet-match implications at NPC.
• —MILPERSMAN 1306.2 series — detailing; you mentor the Washington Band assignment pipeline for your sailors.
• —OPNAVINST 6110.1 — PRT; you own the section's physical readiness reporting.
• —MILPERSMAN 1000-series — enlisted personnel actions at the LPO level: advancement, NJP referral if it arises, separation language.

• —Chief board packet under construction with the CMC's eye on every eEVAL cycle; the community is small and the selection board has context that does not exist in a rate with 10,000 active members.
• —Section performance output — intonation, ensemble blend, ceremony execution — defensible by the Warrant Officer and Director without caveat.
• —Section readiness (PRT/BCA/IMR) at or above command average; the LPO who carries a failing section metric to the CMC without a fix plan has already lost the conversation.
• —eEVAL profile across MU2s and MU3s that produces a Chief-competitive candidate before you leave the command.
• —Zero integrity incidents in a community this small. MU1-level issues — fraternization, financial, OPSEC, or conduct at a public performance — are visible to the entire chain within hours.

• —Briefing performance-readiness numbers you have not validated. The Warrant Officer or Director asks once; incorrect numbers in a command this small carry permanently.
• —Writing eEVAL filler bullets. "Performs with excellence" is not a bullet. Name the state funeral. Name the foreign head of state visit. Name the concert attendance figure. The Chief board reads what you wrote.
• —Treating the Chief board as something you prepare for at MU1 rather than something you have been building since MU3. The community is tiny; the selection board has already formed an opinion.
• —Confusing musical leadership with administrative authority. You lead the section; the Director and Warrant Officer lead the music program. Know the line and never cross it in front of the ensemble.
• —Letting a junior musician's instrument fall into disrepair on your watch. The LPO who walks into a ceremony with a section member holding a broken instrument already failed the inspection.

The good MU1 is the LPO the Warrant Officer names when the Commanding Officer asks who runs the section. Their eEVAL blocks name ceremonies and tours that prove output, their MU2s are on the advancement slate, and the section's PRT and uniform standards brief without caveats. They sit the Chief board with a record the selection board reads without having to infer.

You are a Chief. In a community of 500, the anchors mean the goat locker is yours, the Warrant Officer and the Director both name you without hesitation, and the entire command reads the standard off how you hold the section.

Making Chief in the MU rate is the defining career event — the community is small enough that every candidate is known, and the selection is personal in a way it is not in a rate with thousands of members. As the LCPO of a section or the senior enlisted musical voice in a fleet band, you own the enlisted execution of the entire command's performance mission: rehearsal scheduling, section standards, eEVAL production for MU1s and MU2s, PRT/BCA posture, duty rotation, watch-bill integrity, and the cultural standard the junior musicians absorb. At Navy Band Washington the stakes escalate further — you are the enlisted voice on state events, national memorial performances, and diplomatic ceremonies that carry strategic weight. You build the next LPO. You mentor the Chief-competitive MU1. You enforce the musical and military standard every day, in uniform, on stage, and in the goat locker.

• 01Run the command's enlisted performance and administrative calendar — rehearsal plans, certification tracking, eEVAL cycle, PRT/BCA posture, watch bill — at a standard the Executive Officer and Commanding Officer can brief without revision.
• 02Defend the command's music program standards in planning meetings with commissioned officers and civilian leadership: what can and cannot be promised, what the rehearsal requirement actually is, and what the consequence of an under-rehearsed ceremony looks like.
• 03Write Chief-quality eEVALs for MU1s that pick the next Chief-competitive candidate from the command — the community is small and the selection board has context.
• 04Run the command's senior-enlisted mentoring pipeline: Washington Band assignment, Chief board preparation, post-Navy performance market, commissioning (Seaman to Admiral, Warrant Officer path if applicable).
• 05Operate as the senior enlisted voice during a high-visibility diplomatic or national event — your AAR and your section's performance record are what the Commanding Officer briefs up the chain.
• 06Translate Commander, Naval Installations Command / type-command / Chief of Naval Operations-level music program guidance into deckplate decisions the musicians execute without needing the instruction reworded.

• —OPNAVINST 5720.14 (series) — you are the LCPO the junior officers and the Warrant Officer come to with the program policy question.
• —MILPERSMAN 1000 / 1306 series — personnel actions and detailing at senior-enlisted visibility; you are in the room for the assignment conversation when it involves your sailors.
• —NAVPERS 18068 Vol II — NEC catalog; you manage the command's NEC profile and the billet-match pipeline.
• —CPO 365 / Chief's Mess guidance — the goat locker standards hold even in a command of 30 sailors; they hold especially there.
• —MILPERSMAN 1910-series — separation and retention language at the senior-enlisted level; you are the Chief the Commanding Officer consults before the paperwork starts.

• —CPO Academy / Chief's Mess transition complete; standing as a Chief in the mess and the section — not a Chief in title alone.
• —Command performance output defensible at Commanding Officer and type-command level: no ceremony failures attributable to enlisted leadership on your watch.
• —eEVAL profile producing a Chief-competitive MU1 from your command within two assignment cycles.
• —Section and command PRT/BCA posture at or above installation average — every cycle, no caveats.
• —Zero senior-enlisted integrity incidents. In a community this small, one incident ends the career and ends the command's trust in the rate.

• —Treating the goat locker as a private club in a command of 30 sailors. The mess is visible; the junior musicians watch how the chiefs operate every day.
• —Letting the musical standard drift because "we are short on rehearsal time." Rehearsal time is your resource to protect and advocate for, not to surrender. The Commanding Officer needs your honest assessment, not an accommodation.
• —Forgetting that your PRT and uniform discipline are visible to every junior musician. The Chief who coasts on physical standards teaches the junior musician that coasting is acceptable.
• —Going public with a disagreement with the Director or the Commanding Officer. The disagreement happens in the office; you walk out aligned. The community is too small for any other pattern.
• —Treating the Washington Band assignment pipeline as something that happens to sailors rather than something you shape. Your MU1s need the mentoring conversation before the cycle opens, not after the slate is cut.

The good Chief Musician is the LCPO the Commanding Officer names in the closing remarks of every major ceremony. Their section performs without a single uncorrected mistake on the state event that mattered most, their MU1 is Chief-board-competitive, and the junior musicians in the command know that the standard they are held to comes from the Chief who still outplays half the section. When the Warrant Officer needs a trusted voice in the planning meeting, there is no hesitation about who to call.

You are the senior enlisted musical and military voice in the Navy music program. The Commanding Officer names you in the brief; the rate traces its professional standard back to what you enforce today.

As Senior Chief or Master Chief Musician you hold the top enlisted billet in the program — LCPO of Navy Band Washington, Senior Enlisted Leader of a major fleet-band command, or a senior staff role in the Navy music program that shapes policy, billet structure, and talent management across all commands. You write the eEVALs that pick the next Chief and Senior Chief in the rate. You sit at command-team synch as the senior enlisted voice on every decision that touches enlisted musicians: assignment, retention, performance standards, promotion narrative, conduct. You build the next CMC candidate. You set the professional baseline that every junior musician will internalize for the next decade. You also begin the post-Navy market plan: university performance faculty, orchestral section membership, federal civilian music program management, defense-contractor protocol support — because the bench you leave behind is the standard you are remembered by, not the title on your final evaluation.

• 01Run the senior-enlisted command climate across a major Navy Band command: accountability, training, performance standards, readiness, discipline — at a level the Commanding Officer can brief to Commander, Navy Installations Command without revision.
• 02Brief the Commanding Officer, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, or visiting flag officer on enlisted musical readiness, retention risk, and program health in plain language the senior official can act on.
• 03Sit on Chief and Senior Chief selection board panels for the MU rate with the discipline and confidentiality the convening authority requires — and deliver outcomes the rate respects.
• 04Translate Secretary of the Navy / CNO-level ceremonial and diplomatic guidance into enlisted-execution decisions across multiple commands.
• 05Run a state-level or national-venue ceremonial performance as the senior enlisted leader on scene — your AAR is what the Navy music program quotes in the next policy review.
• 06Counsel a senior MU1 or MUC honestly about post-Navy options: performance faculty, orchestral transition, federal music program civilian positions, and the realistic timeline and competition for each.

• —OPNAVINST 5720.14 (series) — you are the senior enlisted voice in any policy revision conversation at the program level.
• —MILPERSMAN 1000 / 1306 / 1910 series — personnel policy at the senior-enlisted level across the full MU billet inventory.
• —NAVPERS 18068 Vol II — NEC catalog; you own the program-level NEC pipeline and the billet-alignment advocacy at NPC.
• —Senior Enlisted Academy (Naval War College, Newport RI) reading list and CMC/SEA Symposium materials — you consume and translate doctrine down.
• —SECNAV / CNO-level ceremonial guidance and diplomatic protocol memos — pull each one as it drops; your command executes them, and "I did not see that message" is not a senior-chief answer.

• —Senior Enlisted Academy fellowship or equivalent senior-enlisted PME complete before competing for the Navy Band Washington senior-enlisted billet or CMC slate.
• —Zero program-level ceremony failures attributable to senior-enlisted leadership during your tenure — in the Navy music program, a ceremony failure at a state event is a strategic event, not a training one.
• —eEVAL profile producing Chief and Senior Chief-competitive candidates on schedule — the rate is small enough that the selection board tracks the pipeline by name.
• —Retention and assignment posture: a successor for every senior billet identified and in development before you begin your terminal cycle.
• —Zero senior-enlisted integrity incidents — financial, fraternization, OPSEC, or conduct at a public performance. In a community of 500, one incident at Master Chief ends the program's credibility, not just the individual's career.

• —Pretending to have musical or performance expertise on a topic where you are out of date. The Warrant Officer and the Director see it in the first technical planning meeting; credibility in this community is built on demonstrated competence, not on rank.
• —Letting a Chief-led section drift on rehearsal standards because "it is their program." You own the enlisted-execution layer; the standard you enforce is the standard the program runs on.
• —Treating the post-Navy mentoring conversation as transactional. The MU rate is a feeder community for university performance programs, orchestral pipelines, and federal civilian music management — the careers you shape at Master Chief are your professional legacy in the music world long after your final evaluation is filed.
• —Going public with a disagreement with the Commanding Officer or the Director. Take it in the office; walk out aligned; the command is too small for any other pattern.
• —Confusing a wind-down approach in your terminal cycle with doing the job. Until the last note of the last ceremony on your last tour, the section is your section, and the junior musicians are watching.

The good Master Chief Musician is the senior enlisted leader the Commanding Officer names in every Commanding Officer's Call as the reason the command performed at the standard it did. The rate's promotional pipeline is healthy; the Washington Band assignment slate has candidates the selection board recognizes; the junior musicians who came up under their section's standard are now the MU1s and Chiefs who carry the rate forward. When they retire, the program they leave is better than the one they found.