The Navy has released its list of the 4,744 first class petty officers chosen to enter the chiefs mess, an annual rite that kicks off the six-week initiation season.

It’s what Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Russ Smith calls the"most important milestone achievement in enlisted advancement" and in an message to the selectees he urged them to go all-in" to their training and forever strive to “earn this.”

“Take some time to reflect on all who have had a hand in raising you to be the outstanding leaders you have become — everyone who has ever advocated for you, empowered you, trained, taught or developed you put you in this position, at the precipice of a new way of life,” wrote Smith, who is celebrating his 21st CPO initiation season.

"In moments of difficulty, someone put an arm around your shoulder and reinforced your confidence; in moments of sadness, someone consoled you; in moments of great achievement, someone celebrated with you, because no one succeeds alone – you led your team to victory. The investment in you is almost immeasurable, as it is too great to be captured in terms of dollars and cents or a simple quantification of time.

“Recognizing that is important, because it highlights your sacred duty to learn how the chiefs mess operates, how we transcend the sum of our parts to make the Navy better as a whole — to network and share, and to build winning teams so that we prevail in combat.”

According to MCPON, there are roughly 36,000 active duty and reserve CPOs, plus another 500,000 living Navy veterans who were initiated in the mess.

RELATED

Navy Times congratulates all who will enter the Goat Locker!

We invite sailors and their families worldwide to look for the names of those men and women who made this year’s cut:

RATING

ABEC-AMEC

AOC-BMC

BUC-CTTC

DCC-EODC

ETC-FTC

GMC-ISC

ITC-LSSC

MAC-MNC

MRC-QMC

RPC-YNSC

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