No it's not. Benjamin Maxwell called O'brien his best tactical officer he ever had in the Wounded. In Rules of Engagement Worf described him as an outstanding officer. I guess since he's technically an NCO that could fly, being the last O does mean officer, but it gets even more strange when he routinely has officers(ensigns and lieutenants) working for him on DS9. O'brien does go out of his way several times to describe himself as an enlisted man, but calling him a Starfleet officer seems to be a catch all for everyone in Starfleet regardless if they hold officer rank or enlisted.
What's wrong with "astronauts"? Even Cochran used it! It's even etymologically correct: ástron (star) and nautes (sailor); so a member of a star fleet.
Not futuristic enough. Trek always has to use different terms to remind everyone it's the future, just in case they forgot.
"Tactical officer" is a position rather than a rank, which in that case was held by a petty officer. O'Brien's rank was so mis-handled over the years its hard to know what to make of it. But if they are all officers, what to make of Picard's line in "The Drumhead"? The fact that there is an officer/enlisted division shows that it's not parallel to a police agency, as I was saying.
[ That's it in a nutshell. Which is really besides the point. The actual point is that, like a police agency, the term "officer" has often been used to describe Starfleet personnel no matter their rank. It's far more rare to commonly hear the term "enlisted personnel."
They were performing that role/function, it's the same way you would refer to a navigator as "a navigator."
It's not beside the point I was trying to make, which is that Starfleet is not set up the same as a police agency with regard to officer and enlisted personnel.
Since Starfleet Personnel use a stardrive on a starship to travel to starbases and star systems why not call them starmen or astromen? Just a thought, Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente /\
Not politically correct. What about women? Or races without gender? Knowing how things work, we'll have to use stiff and awkward names like "starperson" or "starbeing", and nobody wants that.
In today's U.S. Navy, a midshipman is a midshipman and a seaman is a seaman, regardless of gender. Same with the rank of airman in the Air Force. "Astroman" sounds like a Japanese anime superhero. And "starman" sounds like this dude.
Which doesn't really matter if the term "officer" is the common term for all their personnel, no matter the rank. Which was the point I was making.
Galactic do-gooders. Interstellar meddlers. Sanctimonious assholes.* * "Leanna Huxley, you are fined one credit for violation of the verbal morality code." --Automated voice in the film Demolition Man.
Less "over the years, and more "initially." Referring to O'Brien as a tactical specialist probably would have been better. Strictly speaking, was Maxwell complimenting O'Brien on being a knowledgeable tactician, or a talented gunner? It pretty much goes without saying that O'Brien would have known the systems inside and out.
Hmmm, this is an iteresting debate. I'm a Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Army and while I am referred to as an Officer I am also referred to as a Soldier. Alot of time we also say "Army personnel" or "Air Force personnel" since we work in a joint office, but we are referring to ALL Army or ALL AF personnel, officer and enlisted included. We have one Navy Officer in our unit. I've told her on a couple of occassions that the only way I learned their officer rank structure was from watching Star Trek. (The isigna is the same but the "names" are different).
Pretty much this. Calling everybody a Starfleet Officer is silly mostly because it doesn't even make sense with relation to the meaning of the term. Just ask Sergey Rozhenko. He seemed to take pride in his former NCO status with Chief O'Brien in "Family." That and I've seen how enlisted personnel respond when you mistake them for an officer.