Hell, no. You don't want to put me in charge of hundreds of lives. I'm barely responsible enough to take care of a cat.
I wouldn't want that responsibility. Wouldn't mind being Conn Officer/Shuttle Pilot, or maybe an officer in the xenosociology department.
I would rather be 2nd or 3rd officer. That's where it's at. You get to be in charge every now and then, and then go back to your regular job. The big chair comes with too much stress-look what happened to Picard and Sisko after about 4 years.
I think that I've always wanted to be in that center seat more than anywhere else. Certainly more than anyplace I've ever been in the "real" world. I've captained ocean going sail boats, owned my own company (which failed due to a divorce - I was away from home too often) and have always been the "one in charge"; supervisor, lead, manager or whatever.
Ha! I totally forgot about that. I'll remember this whenever I see someone complaining about how Star Trek Online's fiction has "lowered the bar" for captaincy.
I would like to think that Starfleet has somewhat more stringent requirements than the modern military or university, given that you're potentially representing not only humanity, but hundreds of other races throughout the galaxy, to say nothing of the fact that many captains would have enough fire power at their disposal to lay waste to entire populations. So putting aside those lives that are directly under your command and looking at the bigger picture of the actual responsibility that rests on your shoulders, I somehow doubt that most people would make the cut. So no, I could not be a captain. That being said, they let Barclay join with all his instabilities and Troi passed the command test...they even made Crusher a captain in an alternate timeline...though she did promptly get her ship destroyed, so there you go. So who knows, maybe they just hand out ships like a reward system for time served. All in all, Starfleet should have better standards given their importance in representing the Federation.
yep i'd be a captain. Not of a galaxy class something small like a Miranda or even an ambassador though with my luck it would be a garbage scow.
Depends on what kind of captain. A small science or civilian ship maybe but a big and more military-type like ship - no.
One thing I don't get is the elitism Starfleet has about senior officers . In Tapestry, Picard said that being a simple science officer was boring and beneath him. He might have insulted Dax, Obrien, and a whole load of characters. Just being an officer is cool in itself, you've got authority and respect, and get to do a job you're good at. Who absolutely needs to be captain in charge of everything at every moment, getting glory every second?
Fatheads. Actually I think some people just don't like being under someone else's command because they always feel they could be doing a better job. This is why the Trek captains are always less than happy about their little conference calls from Admirals.
They really took it far in Trek. I see the power they have, but a lot of it seems pompous at times. Even Troi, a career psychologist, had to get into the act. It's like everyone joined so they could become a captain and sit in the big chair. Take Harry Kim. He's been an ensign for 7 years--actually I understand why he would be pissed. But on the other hand, I understod they were in abnormal predicament. They were stranded with a skeleton crew 70 years away from home. I woiuldn't expect a promotion during that period. But just being an Ensign gives him authority over the non com officers. Hell, he's chief of operations, a deptartment head. That would be a-ok with me.
He was worried he would die out there and on his gravestone it would say "ensign" and he would be 47 years old.