Starfleet is a Space Navy (military fleet)

[Timo]

Any connection with NASA is at most implicit, and indeed our heroes show much more kinship with the fighting organizations of yore than at their couple of encounters with the old NASA. Probably because meeting with a fighting organization is likelier than meeting with NASA overall, but still.

So one wonders - why isn't NASA on the list of heroes for the heroes? Is its reputation soiled somehow in the 23rd century and beyond? Does it suffer from political association with undesirables? Or from mere obscurity?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Tenacity]

Starfleet fits a definition of a paramilitary organisation

Okay, how is Starfleet as observed more a paramilitary than a military.?

Starfleet undertakes (among other things) diplomatic duties, established trade routes. and setting up colonies. In the histories of militaries these things were some of their duties.

When have paramilitaries done all of these?

Except for all the times it has been explicitly stated on-screen that Starfleet's primary purpose is exploration...

All the times, and did all the time you're referring to out number all the times we see and hear that Starfleet is carrying out military missions?

The series that depicts a Starfleet vessel engaged in the most exploration is Voyager, and there Voyager is isolated by distance from carrying out it primary mission of defending the Federations.

In fact when we first see Voyager, it's on a military mission.

If Voyager hadn't been thrown into the delta quadrant, GabyBee do you honestly think that during the Dominion War that exploration wouldn't have been immediately discarded so that Voyager could undertake Starfleet number one primary mission, defending the Federation?

 

[GabyBee]

There is far more to Star Trek than just the Dominion War.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

Okay, how is Starfleet as observed more a paramilitary than a military.?

Starfleet undertakes (among other things) diplomatic duties, established trade routes. and setting up colonies. In the histories of militaries these things were some of their duties.

When have paramilitaries done all of these?

None of the them, as far as I know, which is why I generally fall on the "military" side of the military/non-military binary argument. However, I'm trying - increasingly opposed by both sides - to find an alternative term that both will accept.

Does everyone agree that they are a government agency?

 

[BillJ]

There is far more to Star Trek than just the Dominion War.

You're right. There's Klingons, Romulans, Tzenkethi, Tholians, Ferengi, Talarians and others that Starfleet as an organization has to be prepared for and has done battle with. That is just what we know of.

 

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

If it walks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck, it's a duck.

Starfleet could be called the Girl Scouts Cookie Team and still be a military if it performed the tasks (waging wars, defending member planets etc.) that it does.

 

[Tenacity]

There is far more to Star Trek than just the Dominion War.

Okay, let's look at Errand of Mercy, can you really see the Enterprise (as a warship) not traveling to the "Klingon front" owing to already being on a exploration mission?

The Naked Time, that was a science mission. But Kirk would have dropped that science mission in a heart beat if a military mission developed in the area, and the Enterprise (as a warship) was needed.

Angel One, in the middle of a rescue and diplomatic mission, the Enterprise D (as a warship) was given a military mission, which superseded it's current mission.

 

[fireproof78]

None of the them, as far as I know, which is why I generally fall on the "military" side of the military/non-military binary argument. However, I'm trying - increasingly opposed by both sides - to find an alternative term that both will accept.

Does everyone agree that they are a government agency?

My question is if they act in an official capacity for the defense of the Federation during a war time, doesn't that make them a military? Maybe they are not all the time as has been argued, but in times of war? What are they then?

Calling it a military force doesn't take away from it's overall mission. It just means that Starfleet is large enough that it isn't encompassed by a binary distinction.

Maybe it's the Federation's IRS and they are collecting taxes. I mean, they are authorized to use force.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

I believe the current HMS Enterprise is a military oceanographic vessel that (among other things) conduits hydrographic surveys. Knowledge of the oceans is quite important to military activities.

Exactly my point: the Navy conducts scientific research because it helps support its military mission.

Starfleet conducts military missions because it helps support its scientific mission.

It's a "cart before the horse" type thing: in the military, the horse pulls the cart. In Starfleet, the cart is being used to transport the horse.

And that is most likely Starfleet's primary mission.

Starfleet's primary mission is exploration and scientific research, according to every Starfleet officer ever.

By contrast:

Disagree, it's exploration that is one of Starfleet's secondary mission

According to no officer ever.

Captain of the Voyager says:

Commander Chakotay and I have agreed that this should be one crew. A Starfleet crew. And as the only Starfleet vessel assigned to the Delta Quadrant, we'll continue to follow our directive to seek out new worlds and explore space.
​

And also:

PARIS: My father used to talk at length to us about the Prime Directive, once a year, like a holiday sermon.
JANEWAY: He considered it the guiding principle of space exploration.​

^ Interestingly, it's also the guiding principal of Starfleet

Also:

CHAKOTAY: I don't know that it's fair for me to put my own personal curiosity ahead of the ship's priorities.
JANEWAY: We still haven't found the polyferranide we need to seal the warp coils. If these people have warp technology, they might be able to help us. Besides, we are in the business of exploring, aren't we?​

Also:

JANEWAY: He told us that you were curious and went off to explore the galaxy. We're explorers too, but your friend brought us to this quadrant against our will, and we haven't been able to find a way back.​

Also:

JANEWAY: This is a ship of exploration, Mister Tuvok.​

Captain of the Enterprise says:

What's the mission of this vessel, Doctor? To seek out and contact alien life, and an opportunity to demonstrate what our high-sounding words mean. Any questions?​

He also says:

This is the Captain. We're on a difficult mission, but it's not the first time. Our orders do not say stay alive or retreat. Our mission is to investigate.​

The Captain of the Enterprise-D says:

We are not invaders. We are explorers.​

And also:

We're out here to explore, to make contact with other life forms, to establish peaceful relations but not to interfere. And absolutely not to destroy. And yet look what we have just done.​

And also this:

PICARD: What do you want of us?
ALIEN: The same as you.
PICARD: Mister Barclay?
BARCLAY: You're both on the same mission, Captain.
PICARD: Mission?
BARCLAY: Yes, sir. The Cytherians are exploring the galaxy just as we are. The only difference is that they never leave their home. They bring others here. Their only wish, an exchange of knowledge. They want to know us.​

Boothby says:

PICARD: You could use a good herbicide instead of pulling the weeds with your bare hands.
BOOTHBY: And you could explore space on a holodeck instead of a starship.​

Crusher says:

CRUSHER: And the exploration of space? Surely that must count for something.
PICARD: I wouldn't trade it for anything, and I would still make the same choice I made all those years ago.​

Lt. Commander Data says:

The Enterprise is not a ship of war. It is a ship of exploration.​

Captain Ben Sisko says:

We are constantly searching, not just for answers to our questions, but for new questions. We are explorers. We explore our lives, day by day, and we explore the galaxy, trying to expand the boundaries of our knowledge. And that is why I am here. Not to conquer you either with weapons or with ideas, but to co-exist and learn.​

Major Kira says:

DAX: There doesn't seem to be any immediate threat, Major.
KIRA: Oh, no. I'm sure all you Starfleet explorers find this fascinating, but I'm a Bajoran administrator. This is not what I signed up for.​

The galaxy wide consensus among Starfleet officers and others is that Starfleet's primary purpose is exploration. It's not their secondary mission, it's not "something we do because the military can do lots of different things." It is the REASON why Starfleet exists; it is WHAT THEY ARE.

 

[BillJ]

It is the REASON why Starfleet exists; it is WHAT THEY ARE.

But it really isn't what they are, as any episode with a military component shows. The military mission is always given priority over science/exploration mission.

 

[fireproof78]

This must be where the Starfleet Marines/MACOs come in then. They are the military.

 

[BillJ]

This must be where the Starfleet Marines/MACOs come in then. They are the military.

For me (and me alone), the overwhelming evidence in the actions of Starfleet makes them the defense arm of the Federation. The military.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

Okay, how is Starfleet as observed more a paramilitary than a military.?

Because they are an armed uniform service with military capabilities that, even so, is not considered to be a military organization.

All the times, and did all the time you're referring to out number all the times we see and hear that Starfleet is carrying out military missions?

A "military mission" is by definition a mission carried out by the military. You can send a guy on a mission to blow up your enemy's flag ship, but that doesn't make him "the military." It makes him either a paramilitary, an insurgent or a terrorist, depending on who you talk to.

In fact when we first see Voyager, it's on a military mission...

And yet her Captain repeatedly says that their mission is exploration.

If Voyager hadn't been thrown into the delta quadrant, GabyBee do you honestly think that during the Dominion War that exploration wouldn't have been immediately discarded so that Voyager could undertake Starfleet number one primary mission, defending the Federation?

Starfleet's number one mission is exploration. Defense of the Federation is something they do on an emergency basis... and even in DS9, they STILL snuck away to do some exploring whenever they could.

 

[BillJ]

This doesn't sound like the talk of a science/exploration first organization...

KOMACK [on monitor]: Altair Six is no ordinary matter. That area is just putting itself together after a long interplanetary conflict. This inauguration will stabilise the entire Altair system. Our appearance there is a demonstration of friendship and strength which will cause ripples clear to the Klingon Empire.

 

[Baxten]

Fundamentally, all attempts at definition here are doomed to fail, because there is no obligation for an organization to be "like" a Space Navy even if it is one, nor any obligation for it to be "unlike" one even if it isn't one.

Any random bunch of people can decide to call each other by military ranks, dress funnily, and apply military terminology to whatever it does, be it chess or knitting. Nobody jails the Salvation Army for doing that, say.

In contrast, a military can decide to call itself something else, and again nobody will naysay - it just won't do to disagree with the people with the guns! Which is why we have First Citizens and Premier Secretaries as heads of state, Defense Departments instead of War Departments, and liberations instead of occupations.

Starfleet doesn't even need to be a "future" organization to get a full permit to use terminology differently from the way we use it. It suffices for it to be a "parallel" organization, as its roots are in a timeline that markedly differs from ours.

No. It's not just terminology but the authority that comes with it such as the ability to enforce military law through JAG and courts-martial while being on active duty; not to mention fighting all of the Federation wars, which makes Starfleet a de facto military organization in the least. Otherwise, you need to contort the language just to argue that Starfleet is not a military.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

But it really isn't what they are, as any episode with a military component shows...

It's an exploration service with a military component.

The military mission is always given priority over science/exploration mission.

Why would that be surprising? The military missions they are given are almost always situations where lives are at stake. Starfleet definitely doesn't put scientific research ahead of other people's lives and safety, military mission or not.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

This doesn't sound like the talk of a science/exploration first organization...

Headcanon: TOS isn't part of the TNG/ENT timeline and is a completely different organization. Internally, it's consistent with the fact that Kirk (being that he wears a yellow shirt) comes from a military organization while the red/blue shirts do not.

In universe: Enterprise is one of THREE starships present at the inauguration, and Kirk is overstating its importance considerably. It is indeed a gesture of "friendship and strength" with a greater emphasis on the former than the latter.

 

[GabyBee]

Starfleet "Marines" are not canon, and MACO was disbanded after the Romulan War.

 

[Captain of the USS Averof]

Starfleet is the successor organization to NASA and other space agencies of Earth and Federation worlds.

Where does that come from??? That's the most unfounded position in the whole thread.

Star Trek: Enterprise pretty explicitly shows Starfleet as an evolution of NASA and other Earth space agencies.

Enterprise also shows us a direct lineage from military ships, i.e. an Enterprise wooden warship and the USS Enterprise CVN-65 aircraft carrier.

The Motion Picture also shows Enterprise's direct lineage from a frigate and an aircraft carrier.

The Next Generation shows also the direct lineage of the starships Enterprise from the U.S. Navy's Enterprise aircraft carriers.

If it walks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck, it's a duck.

Starfleet could be called the Girl Scouts Cookie Team and still be a military if it performed the tasks (waging wars, defending member planets etc.) that it does.

Finally some common sense around here. How refreshing!

 

[Baxten]

ACTIVE DUTY = NOT A PARAMILITARY

Go look up what active duty means.

Merriam-Webster: Active duty

: employment as a full-time member of the military.​

Now look it up on Wikipedia: Active duty:

Active duty refers to a full-time occupation as part of a military force, as opposed to reserve duty.​

Moreover, the same article gives examples that whenever paramilitaries are involved, they are not included on active duty, despite being an active force. This term is exclusive to a military.

Starfleet officers and ships are on active duty. Therefore, Starfleet is a military organization at all times.

The only way to attempt an argument against it is to resort to contorting the language again, like with JAG and court-martial, which too are terms exclusive to military. Combined with Starfleet's actions as the Federation's de facto military force, contorting the language makes Starfleet look like a stinking liar.