They're Starfleet and subject to Starfleet's code of justice. The courts martial episodes show this.
Who resigned their commissions?
Starfleet is a Space Navy (military fleet)
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Who resigned their commissions?
E-Memo to Iowa Starfleet recruitment officer
If you tell Mr Kirk we are a military organisation and will make a fine soldier out of him, we will get free supplies from the Kirk farm for life.
Signed
Fleet Admiral's office
E-Memo to Parisian Starfleet recruitment officer
If you tell Mr Picard we are not a military organisation but a group of explorers, we will get free crates of Chateau Picard for life.
Signed
Fleet Admiral's office
E-Memo to New Orleans Starfleet recruitment officer
If you tell Mr Sisko we are a military organisation looking for soldiers, we will get free dinner at Sisko's for life.
Signed
Fleet Admiral's office
'Starfleet - we will be whatever you want us to be'.....
If you tell Mr Kirk we are a military organisation and will make a fine soldier out of him, we will get free supplies from the Kirk farm for life.
Signed
Fleet Admiral's office
E-Memo to Parisian Starfleet recruitment officer
If you tell Mr Picard we are not a military organisation but a group of explorers, we will get free crates of Chateau Picard for life.
Signed
Fleet Admiral's office
E-Memo to New Orleans Starfleet recruitment officer
If you tell Mr Sisko we are a military organisation looking for soldiers, we will get free dinner at Sisko's for life.
Signed
Fleet Admiral's office
'Starfleet - we will be whatever you want us to be'.....
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Of course context matters! The context in "Preemptive Strike" is as straight forward as it gets! Picard, the superior officer, has given his subordinate, Ro Laren, a mission and an order. If she chooses to disobey her orders or deliberately blows the mission he threatens her with court-martial. Like in any military past, present or future. Again, as straight forward as it gets! No hidden innuendoes and no double entendres whatsoever like your irrelevant quote.
I would take the usage of the words court martial and JAG to be loan words used by Starfleet to get the ideas across without them actually being what they were intended to be in the 20th century. We use load words all the time in the 21st century that aren't what they are actually for, but get the point across to people even if the word is actually the wrong usage of said word. Especially in business. In business and the corporate world, terms that should be military only get thrown around a lot and accepted because people understand what it meant by them, even if the terms are linguistically military only. The English language is evolving to not actually care where a word is from or what a word is suppose to be, but instead to take the most basic meaning of a word and run with it if it sounds cool. Largely due to the Internet and the post-Cable/Satellite TV generation. The logical evolution of this is that in two to three centuries, there will be words used that do not conform to their traditional meanings anymore, so long as they get the general definition of the word across to others.
But we see what those words mean as well. They seem to be the same as the 21st Century meanings.
Well done.
That's why first contact went so poorly.
They seem to find a civilian lawyer just fine for Kirk's court martial in "Court Martial." Must have been a shuttlecraft chaser.
Agreed.
I don't recall anyone resigning their commission prior to the convening of a courts-martial. Kirk certainly didn't, Worf didn't, and Spock didn't either.
It took about 36 pages but I'm fully in support of Crazy Eddie's crazy (see what I did there) point of view. Following the example of Japan, which constitutionally does not have a military despite having soldiers (I presume they are called soldiers), military equipment and the ability to
Outside countries might feel Japan has a military. If some nation were to invade Japan, they would expect to fight the Japanese Defense Force. Japan and the Japanese people do not believe they have a military and they will state they do not have a military.
Japan has a Defense Force. Who cares what Korea or China thinks? Let them call it a military if they want.
Outside civilizations may view Starfleet as the military arm of the Federation. Starfleet is capable of waging war but they are legally forbidden to start one. The Federation and Starfleet personnel (Picard, Scotty in NuTrek) do not believe they are a military and will state they aren't a military, Kirk can still claim to be a soldier just like Japanese Defense Force personnel can claim to be a soldier.
Starfleet is the de-facto military arm of the Federation but they shun the term and are (probably) constitutionally forbidden to use the term. Yes, it's self-imposed. Yes, it's PR. Yes, it's word-games but such verbal acrobatic are probably necessary when unifying alien species with vastly different thought processes and possible fears of alien conquest.
Starfleet is a Defense Force. Who cares what the Romulans or Klingons think. Let them consider Starfleet a military.
The majority of Starfleet's missions are basically what the 19th Century Royal and US Navy's missions. They both set up colonies, outposts/stations (akin to coaling stations), showed the flag (diplomacy), engaged in both anti-piracy and anti-slavery patrols, fought in wars, engaged in blockades, engaged in humanitarian relief missions, and explored their respective mediums (space and oceans).
Are you kidding? Those puny Humonns whooped them and their cranial ridges.
Disclaimer: By "humonns" I mean the totally Diverse species of Starfleet
These things don't always happen in deep space. The DMZ is pretty close to Earth, because they travel there or to DS9 in like 3 days or something.
Then you agree it's just a word game. Do we care what omnipotent god-like beings think?(you can say no)
And what's the difference between a Defense Force and a military? Absolutely none!
Here is a Japanese "non military" Helicopter Carrier.
Here is a Japanese "non military" Guided Missile Destroyer.
Here is a Japanese "non military" Attack Submarine.
Here is a Japanese "non military" Main Battle Tank.
Here is a Japanese "non military" Air-Superiority Fighter.
Here is a Japanese "non military" Multirole Fighter.
They look pretty indistinguishable from the "military" types to me.
The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force has has a fleet of 154 ships including 4 helicopter carriers (called helicopter destroyers), 26 destroyers, 11 small destroyers (or frigates), 6 destroyer escorts (or corvettes), 18 attack submarines, 29 mine countermeasure vessels, 6 patrol vessels, 3 tank landing ships, 8 training vessels and a fleet of various auxiliary ships.
How much more they would have if their constitution allowed them to have a "Military" Navy?
And legally Kim Jong-un's North Korea is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea!
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So, taking that (excellent) argument to compare Starfleet against.
SF is armed with the latest weaponry, the best ships (some of which have pretty military sounding designations) it has tactical officers, it has ranks, it has courts martial (martial = relating to a millitary force), it has discipline that would be grounds for a workplace harassment legal claim in my (very civillian) job, it fights wars, conducts spying and secret tech stealing missions against other sovereign "nations". Hell, one ship can wipe a planet clean of life!!!
But its not millitary &€%÷$#×++!!!?????
Obviously it does every thing that a millitary does but is both unable (Fed politics) and unwilling to actually call itself a millitary (emphasis on exploration). Sounds to me as "meally mouth" to me as Picard using the PD to justify letting a pre-warp civilisation die out when a Starship was in range and could maybe help.
No wonder I prefer TOS!!
They may be the only ones who explicitly stated Starfleet was not a military, but plenty of examples exist where Starfleet is presented in a way that doesn't strike me as anything like a military. Take Sisko's explanation of his mission in Emissary:
Janeway in her own pilot episode defines Starfleet like this:
Not to mention the mission of the Enterprise was spelled out in every episode of the first two series and in most of the films. It's not a military mission, but one of exploration, peace and scientific advancement. I repeat what I said forty pages ago, The US Navy may do things other than fight, but if the need to fight wars were removed, there would be no US Navy in anything like the form that we know it. That isn't true of Starfleet. The primary goal is fundamentally different to a military agency, regardless of the trappings of a disciplined service they adopt.
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That might be true, but the US Coast Guard - which is also legally a military naval force (in fact the world's twelfth largest) would still find plenty to do. Which is probably in part why it isn't part of the DoD.
Very few nations consider their coastguard a military, that's pretty much an American quirk. Here they are a governmental agency (civilian) and an emergency service, supported by the RNLI.
The difference in core mission and purpose is actually quite well illustrated by the USCG. To quote from their website,
Protect, defend, shield, 'serve the country'; their core is militaristic, defence and (although much more softly spoken as in all militaries) offence. On the other hand, when people discuss Starfleet, they use terms like those I quoted above. Explore, discover, expand our knowledge, seek out, scientific truth. While Starfleet is quite capable of acting as an armed force for the Federation on a large scale and projecting force in smaller incidents, to me it is abundantly clear from many years of the show that these are secondary to their goals. If they didn't have to do those things anymore, little would fundamentally change about Starfleet's organisation or mission.
The difference in core mission and purpose is actually quite well illustrated by the USCG. To quote from their website,
Protect, defend, shield, 'serve the country'; their core is militaristic, defence and (although much more softly spoken as in all militaries) offence. On the other hand, when people discuss Starfleet, they use terms like those I quoted above. Explore, discover, expand our knowledge, seek out, scientific truth. While Starfleet is quite capable of acting as an armed force for the Federation on a large scale and projecting force in smaller incidents, to me it is abundantly clear from many years of the show that these are secondary to their goals. If they didn't have to do those things anymore, little would fundamentally change about Starfleet's organisation or mission.
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HM Coast Guard is - as you note above a civilian rescue agency (very similar in role to the volunteer RNLI) and the border control/law enforcement role is covered by the civilian UK Border Force, which use larger boats similar in size to the Sentinel-class cutter.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...HMRC_Valiant_BB.jpg/300px-HMRC_Valiant_BB.jpg
(Deck "gun" is a water cannon)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...0px-USCG_Sentinel_class_cutter_poster.pdf.jpg
(Armed with a 25mm cannon and machine guns).
Which sums up something that I've been wondering... We have quotes that say that Starfleet as an organisation "isn't a military", we have quotes describing individuals as "a soldier" (Kirk, O'Brien, Worf) and even Picard, who appears to be somewhat anti-military displays many of the characteristics of a "military bearing". Do we have any quotes from Starfleet personnel indicating that individuals within Starfleet aren't soldiers?
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One of the ones you mention, actually, O'Brien.
"I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer." (Empok Nor, DS9)
It appears from this and other presentations of O'Brien's war record (The Wounded, Tribunal) that he considered himself a 'soldier' only for the period that he was actually fighting. He is still a Starfleet non-com as he was then, but he is not a 'soldier' anymore. Clearly, membership of Starfleet wasn't the defining factor.
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