Starfleet Tactical Marine Corps

[Shamrock Holmes]

Simon Pegg's speculation on that is certainly interesting, but to my mind it ranks below the explanation from Star Trek (2009) itself:

"Nero's very presence has altered the flow of history beginning with the attack on the USS Kelvin, culminating with the events of today, thereby creating an entire new chain of incidents that cannot be anticipated by either party."
"An alternate reality."

Read more: https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=star-trek

Which makes it quite clear that - at that point - history had changed going forward from the point of divergence only (which is the primary tenet of alt/speculative history).

 

[The Wormhole]

Sadly the guys doing the graphics weren't filled in on some important details like dates.

This is the graphic as it appeared in the theatrical release of Beyond. It was modified for the bluray release.

They didn't even get the ship's registry right.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

That's a fair point.

Been doing a bit of research:

- Hoshi calls them "Military Assault Command", and makes no specific mention of the operating authority. Nor is this outlined elsewhere. Hayes' background and insignia suggests a US force, but Star Trek has always used a fairly Americanesque setup so that's inconclusive).
- Uniform patches during ENT consistently refer to 'Military Assault Command Ops', and also feature the TOS-era Command/Tactical 'star'.
- TrekLit refers to them as the Military Assault Command Organisation on occassion, and consistently depicts General Casey, the Head MACO as one of the three senior 'military' advisors to the United Earth political establishment.
- Scotty in Beyond refers to the Military Assault Command operation (and as noted an on-screen graphic mentions 'United Earth Military').

So, there seems to be some ambiguity about who and what they are. I think it's entirely possible that there are at least two versions of MACO.

1) The early 'in-development' unit seen on-screen in ENT, which is a Command with the larger United Earth military (cf USAAC within the US Army, or the SEALs/NAVSOC within the USN)
2) A larger independent Military Assault Command Organisation, active during the Coalition and Romulan War-era of TrekLit (cf the USAF v USAAC). The larger UE military potentially still exists but MACO has become the premier military (esp commando/light infantry) counterpart to Starfleet.

I also think that the 'Ops' bit of the patch (as the Command Star does later), refers to either or both of

1) the part of the Command they belong to ("Operations", rather than say "Support")
2) it is a training tab, similar to the Ranger, Special Forces or Sapper Tabs (and occassionally different berets) used by the US Army and others.

 

[Tenacity]

Which makes it quite clear that - at that point - history had changed going forward from the point of divergence only (which is the primary tenet of alt/speculative history).

How do you account for Edison comment on fighting the Xindi war? It wasn't a multi-ship war.

In the prime universe, the Xindi attacked with a single weapon, a single ship was sent out, a second Xindi attack was foiled.

Where was Edison's participation? Where was the "war" he spoke of, and had a part in.

Alternate universe. Different history. There was a Xindi war.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Edison could have been one of the MACOS on the Enterprise.

 

[F. King Daniel]

How do you account for Edison comment on fighting the Xindi war? It wasn't a multi-ship war.

In the prime universe, the Xindi attacked with a single weapon, a single ship was sent out, a second Xindi attack was foiled.

Where was Edison's participation? Where was the "war" he spoke of, and had a part in.

Alternate universe. Different history. There was a Xindi war.

Edison's exact words were "We lost millions to the Xindi, and Romulan Wars." That's the 7 million killed in the Xindi incident as one thing, and the Romulan Wars (plural, as they were called in TOS) as another.

The issue is with Edison's claim that they the Federation then "broke bread" with their former enemies. It's possible that if the Kelvin universe has it's own separate past, the Federation and the Romulans were on far better terms than in Prime. Or perhaps he means other, lesser baddies if you want to believe they share a past.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

Alternatively, Edison is just nuts and doesn't have his facts straight?

 

[The Wormhole]

^ Edison could have been one of the MACOS on the Enterprise.

The problem there is, as a Major at the time the MACOs were disbanded, Edison was clearly an officer, which means he would have been a Lieutenant or Captain during the Xindi conflict. Aside from Major Hayes and Sergeant Kemper, all the MACOs aboard the NX-01 were Privates and Corporals.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Aside from Major Hayes and Sergeant Kemper, all the MACOs aboard the NX-01 were Privates and Corporals.

There is actually no conclusive proof of this. Indeed, I find it unlikely that Hayes wouldn't have had at least one other officer serving as his second in command.

Even so, Edison could have been given a battlefield commission as an officer after Hayes' death...

Alternatively, Edison is just nuts and doesn't have his facts straight?

That too.

 

[The Wormhole]

Even so, Edison could have been given a battlefield commission as an officer after Hayes' death...

If anything, you'd think that would go to Corporal Mackenzie, given Hayes recommended her to take over as he lay on his deathbed.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

If anything, you'd think that would go to Corporal Mackenzie, given Hayes recommended her to take over as he lay on his deathbed.

I kinda zig-zag on that one. Suggesting MacKenzie as Reed's advisor when he takes over makes sense, but either Sergeant Kemper or Sergeant Moreno would have made more sense as the Acting Lieutenant. TrekLit has her as Senior MACO during the Earth-Romulan War (but with the rank of Master Sergeant, roughly equivalent to CPO, not an officer rank of Lieutenant or Major) until Hayes' replacement arrives.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

On a slightly different - but related to the original OP - point.... what's the opinion of the Starfleet Rangers from Jeri Taylor's Mosaic?

The book depicts them as field operators who are also skilled engineers and scientists (Janeway's late fiancee Justin Tinge - potentially their CO - appears to be both, and have some skill as (co-)pilot. They are also depicted as being intelligence-gathering experts and are used for Hostage Rescue.

Apocrypha (LUG Starfleet Security Handbook) describes them as a 'recent innovation' (post-Praxis, pre-Cardassian Wars) with an emphasis on planetary survival skills as well as the ability to work alone for extended periods of time. This allowed them to either work individually or in small groups where they could explore, protect and defend the borders of Federation space.

I think they are certainly analogus to a Tier 1 unit, but the exact one is difficult to determine, as they seem to combine elements of most of them (Their intelligence-gathering role suggests ISA or Regimental Recon (although neither were JSOC at the time) but hostage rescue is more Delta or DEVGRU AFAIK). Given their 'denible' nature, and the link to Starfleet Security (which is either the same or linked to Starfleet Intelligence) another analogue might be the CIA Special Operations Group.

Despite the name, I definately do not think they are in anyway related to the US Army Rangers (though synonymous units in other countries - like the Irish Army Ranger Wing - may be somewhat valid comparisions).

 

[The Wormhole]

Haven't read Mosaic, but from your post they basically sound like Starfleet's equivalent of special ops.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

*Nods*

Found another bit of Mosaic that describes them as 'commandos', which could suggest they are similar to 75th Ranger Regiment, but their focus on covert operations and recon makes me think otherwise. It could be my British bias showing, but the closest Anglophone analogue seems to be the UK Special Boat Service (which was traditionally made up 100% of Royal Marines Commandos, and is still mostly so), although DEVGRU or Delta come close.