This year, the U.S. Navy promoted 4,744 of the 19,870 eligible petty officers 1st class to the senior enlisted rank, culminating a six-week transition period. In Europe, 82 new chief petty officers are graduates of the Chief Petty Officer Academy, a three-week residential course that is part of the traditional six-week transition period. Here are scenes from the ceremony at Naples, Italy. Hats and pins await the new chief petty officers at a base hangar in Naples, Italy, on Friday. A.J. Roman, 12, pins the anchors on his mother, Kim Roman, as her husband, Angel Roman, smiles. The ceremony is full of ritual, such as the sounding of a bell just before announcing the arrival of a chief.
