deep space nine chief of operations position

why does ds9 have a chief of operations but not a chief engineer

 

No engines?

Timo Saloniemi

 

Perhaps on a starbse it combines Operations and Engineering into one.

 

the station does have other systems an engineer could mantain

 

...and how is a Chief of Operations (O'Brien) different from an Operations Manager (Data)?

Chief of Operations does sound more like a resource allocation position rather than an engineering position, which is what O'Brien had.

Maybe shoulda just made him Chief Engineer, engines or no.
Janus VI has Chief Engineer Ed Appel, and Janus didn't have engines either.

 

The position probably was intended as a resource allocation manager, but with all the broken equipment around, and O'Brien's expertise needed to fix the numerous problems, we just end up thinking he's the chief engineer. The same position on a standard Starfleet starbase is probably more akin to Data's job.

 

Source?













.

 

It does have maneuvering thrusters though - which DO fall into the 'engine' category

 

One wonders... Starfleet was invited in to administrate the station, but it might be the original Bajoran operators from the time of the occupation who would have a better grasp of the maintenance aspect. Perhaps the station already had plenty of Bajoran engineers (such as those young female officers of Season 1, just the sort of people we could expect the Cardassians to enroll and favor), and Starfleet was careful not to step on Bajoran toes there?

It would have been fun to have two Bajoran characters in the chain of command, just for contrast. Kira would have had at least some sympathy for Starfleet, but the writers could have used a Bajoran of stronger convictions and allegiance to the planetside conservatives in the Chief Engineer role. At the conclusion of S1, this character could have participated in the assassination plan against Bareil, undermining the future of not just the character but also of the position.

We did manage to get through several seasons without needing to see the Starfleet character of Chief of Security, even though he apparently did exist the whole time (Lt. Primmin). His job just didn't trample on Odo's too much; similarly, the Bajoran Chief Engineer might have existed in O'Brien's deep shadow.

Timo Saloniemi

 

I always took it O'Brien was called the Chief of Operations because the station didn't have engines and his role was to ensure that all onboard systems operated--he did state many many times that he was an engineer. He could have been called the Maintenance Chief, but that just doesn't sound as good.

As for the post being a combination of Engineering and Operations Officers, I would find that doubtful. Dax handled primary sensor usage, whilst communications were open to anyone (though on larger bases I would suspect that they would have a dedicated Chief Comm Officer and staff), and Kira took on a lot of the organisational management. O'Brien has his hands full trying to make Cardassian, Bajoran and Federation technology work together, as well as seeing to maintenance of the runabouts (later the Defiant) and any other ships in dock in need of help.

The point Timo makes about O'Brien's Bajoran assistants could be more of an apprenticeship/mentoring role. Seeing as how education on Bajor would be rudementary at best I doubt any formal advanced qualifications were available to the masses of Bajorans (most likely learning engineering through trial and error), so when the base becomes operational a large number of Militia personnel are assigned to get more formal on-the-job training which they could then use elsewhere.

But those are just some of my random thoughts on the matter.

 

It could be political.
They might have chosen the title with the idea of reassuring the Bajorans that DS9 was no longer processing ore.

 

^^Well to be fair TNG did have two science stations on the bridge, it's just that in many respects Data doubled up as a Science Officer. On DSN with a dedicated Science Officer the sciene aspects were passed onto them. Leaving power distribution (part of Ops) to be merged with Engineering aspects.

 

Since when did Engineering relate exclusively to Engines? Engineering is Designing/maintaining, not necessarily just Engines.

 

^^^ Right on. Fusion power generators, environmental systems, ODN conduits, EPS taps, all kinds of engineering work without specifically needing "engines".

 

That is very true, he could have been called the Chief of Engineering / Chief Engineer / Engineering Chief and I wouldn't have minded, but I think the title of Chief of Operations just suits O'Brien.

The entire operating of the station just wouldn't happen without him

 

To further muddy the situation, originally Chief of Operations was supposed to be O'Brien's rank.

It could be argued that they just invented a noncom Starfleet rank for O'Brien that has no real correlation with any in today's navies. In such a case, the enlisted chain of command would have went:
Chief of Operations
Chief Petty Officer
etc.

Somewhere along the way, however, it ceased being his rank and was merely his position on the station, IMO.

 

I'd say it's a valid way of giving his rank in today's terms: "My rank is Chief, of Operations, Starfleet". He just swallows the part of what sort of Chief he is, exactly. (Senior Chief is what he gives in "Playing God").

Even his insignia sort of support the rank of Senior CPO in today's terms. That is, he ultimately wears three chevrons and two stars, but without a rocker; bottom-up arithmetic would make that E-8 or SCPO, with the second star replacing the rocker.

Perhaps the dark pips on his collar in earlier appearances could be taken for stars, in which case he would be E-7 or CPO in his early appearances. However, he wears the single "star" in "Playing God" already, creating a contradiction in that theory. But a single "star" would be valid for E-8/SCPO in today's unaltered system (it's just that zero "stars" would be really confusing, as it could mean anything from E-1 to E-7, even though enlisteds would certainly appreciate knowing the difference between E-1 and E-7!)

I'm not all that disappointed at O'Brien being the highest-ranking known Starfleet engineer character in the show (and yeah, I know he bossed around some yellowshirt Ensigns, but I sorta pretend those were from other branches). I just feel the show could have used more of these NCOs, to emphasize how minor-league and down-to-earth Sisko's assignment was: he'd only have two commissioned officers for drinking buddies, and one of those would be the annoying Bashir, which would mean he'd be interacting with the NCOs like no Trek skipper before him. Leaving it at just one man was something of a cop-out. At the very least give us a Bajoran NCO as a foil to O'Brien!

Timo Saloniemi

 

Ugh. That sounds even worse.

I do think the original intent was for Chief of Operations to be a Starfleet grade above Chief Petty Officer and that it was devised by someone who either wasn't all that familiar with real enlisted ranks or simply chose to create an all-new noncom grade just because he could.

O'Brien's rank actually more matches the next grade, that of Master Chief Petty Officer, which features three chevrons and two stars.

Real-life Master Chief insignia:
http://www.dodfire.com/graphics/insignia/NAVY-ENL/Master_Chief_Petty_Officer.gif

O'Brien's insignia:
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20051112202417/memoryalpha/en/images/0/05/Ds9_scpo.png

 

But the lack of rocker in the Starfleet version means we're skipping one "rung" from the "rank ladder". Not to mention that the asymmetric placing of stars in O'Brien's insignia is such that there's obvious room and indeed "demand" for a third one, which would be needed if the highest regular rank, E-9 (MCPO), were a three-star rank but not if it were two-star like in the USN scheme.

On the other hand, if O'Brien were SCPO with one collar pip (confirmed with "Playing God") and MCPO with two pips (never contradicted - "Hippocratic Oath" just establishes that he is some sort of CPO), the universe would certainly be a more elegant place. Perhaps the third star in the Starfleet scheme is for the "honorary" position of MCPO of Starfleet, comparable to the USN MCPO of the Navy.

Timo Saloniemi

 

Not necessarily, because Starfleet enlisted insignia may contain no rockers at all or the "rockers" may be represented by the particular shape of the chevrons.

Three chevrons with three stars would correspond with a Master Chief of the Starfleet, the single-highest ranking enlisted person in the service.