FRIDAY FOTO (September 27, 2019)

Not Your Typical Gunnery Sergeant.

U.S. Department of Defense photo by Lisa Ferdinando)

Members of the “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band stand in formation during an honor cordon at the Pentagon, September 23, 2019. The ceremony welcomed German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to the Pentagon.

The stripes on the assistant drum major‘s sleeve indicate she is a gunnery sergeant, a senior non-commissioned officer usually in charge of the weaponry and weapons training of a company or platoon, although many gunnery sergeants become drill instructors (DIs), the sergeanst charged with training civilian recruits to become Marines.

Things are a little different in the Marine Band.  Assistant Drum Major Gunnery Sergeant Monica Preston leads the band in ceremonial commitments and, as the company gunnery sergeant, she is responsible for unit and new member training.

On parade, she also gets to wear that cool hat and an ornate sash called a baldric. It is embroidered with the Marine Band’s crest and the Marine Corps’ battle colors. That big brass thing she is holding is a mace, embossed with the battles and campaigns of the Marine Corps. Drum majors use the mace to signal commands to the musicians.

Gunnery Sergeant Stacie Crowther was the first female Assistant Drum Major for “The President’s Own” in its 221-year history. She reported for duty with the band in March 2017. Earlier in September, Crowther, now a master sergeant, moved on to a new role as Bandmaster for the Quantico Marine Band.