Posted by Sean Chisham on March 03, 2004 at 11:45:41:
In Reply to: Differences in Military Bands posted by curious on March 03, 2004 at 11:18:27:
The different branches of the military function in different ways. They are all part of the DoD, but they have enough freedom to set some of their own policies within the DoD guidelines.
The Army has the best college loan repayment program. That is not a band program. It is an Army recruitment program. The Marine Band's maximum age policy is an internal "President's Own" policy I believe. The 28 year old max does have some flexibility from what I understand. Of course, I am not by any means the official voice of the Army Bands or the Marine Band. I could be way off base here.
The max age to join the military for all the branches is 34 I believe. Each branch has its own rules regarding retirement also.
The "President's Own" chose to do a cattle call type audition. The Navy Band here is town also did a cattle call at their last audition. Each band can choose their own audition procedure. "Pershing's Own" requires tapes and only brings in about a dozen people per audition because we pay all travel expenses to Washington, DC. Before you audition for an Army premier band, there are 4 of them BTW, you must get past a taped round then go to MEPS for a physical and mental screening process which all military recruits go through before raising their right hand and taking the oath. You don't actually enlist to audition, but you do all the paperwork and preparation right up to the point of actually shipping off to basic training.