Military ranks and officer positions have remained steady without too much craziness... I actually used some of their stuff during my military career.
I think they fudged a few things to further a plot or make use of an existing cast member. For example I doubt a real military organization would make a 15 year old civilian an acting Ensign and place him at the helm of an aircraft carrier. Nor would an officer who turn down promotion three times be held in high regard.
Yeah, Riker's and Kim's careers were terrible examples. Same with Kirk's in the films. The amount of regulations he had broken in The Search for Spock would earn him time in Leavenworth not captaining a starship again. I wasn't in the military but my review of naval regulations were quite simple-a person can be put in to the position of executive officer and cannot be relieved until someone higher in the chain relieves them. Regardless of rank, the position carries with it responsibilities and authority that must be respected in terms of the chain of command.
Great point... breaking regulations is the sole discretion of the person in the situation. Punishment or praise is possible depending on the situation and the outcome of the individual’s actions (as I have witnessed). I understood her to be the 1st officer/number one which is the highest authority under the captain. I may have missed that she is the exec only and not the 1st officer under the captain. Thanks.
I thought we were speaking of Garth. Just another example of technology that doesn’t perform as it should and ends up dismantled, then. I guess so...But still a true and unnecessary mystery! good. The chair was only part of the treatment then. they tried. Not saying they didn’t fudge stuff at times, but they *usually* tried to come up with sensible solutions. Kirk was “rewarded” with a barely functional decades old starship for a reason.
How was it necessary, even story-wise? They could have come up with something much more sensible with ease, one way or the other. Well, hard to tell, since no officer has ever saved the planet in real life. Unless we consider Stanislav Petrov, that is, who in fact was never awarded by his government (he was reprimanded!) but is considered a (mostly unknown) hero elsewhere.
Since I don't know their writing process I can't say how easy it was. I think it showcases that there is more to Discovery that isn't known. Retiring would be the best possible answer. Very few admirals could trust Kirk after that.
It was a temporary promotion during a mission that on the surface looked like a milk run. Exec, Number One and First Officer are usually treated as the same thing in Star Trek.
The two positions are largely interchangeable in Trek lingo. Regardless, Saru was within his right to appoint Tilly and is answerable only to his superior.
Yeah, a hole as big as some of the plot ones we got. and we got to see only two pretty inconvenient missions after that. Yes, the admiralty wouldn’t like him, but imagine the publicity of having Captain Kirk back on the bridge of the enterprise!
i was thinking that his reward-demotion is a great point about starfleet not being a proper military: I can’t imagine something like that happening in a real military, even after having saved the planet (see Petrov).
”enlightened” ones are supposed to award insubordination if it’s warranted, though. And “enlightened” humans are supposed to forgive, so why not organizations?!
I know it's already been pointed out that that sort of thing wouldn't go down in any organization, military or not, but I have to voice my ire at the line "Starfleet isn't military" being used as an excuse for everything illogical about the way Starfleet operates. Whether or not one follows common sense should not be the deciding factor to determine whether something is military or not.