A Starfleet draft during the Dominion War

In my headcanon, they're Starfleet Marines.

 

I think the novels call them "Starfleet Ground Forces" which sounds to me like a clunkier way of calling them Marines.

 

I agree that you wouldn't see conscription. What you'd most likely see are ideas already posted like fast tracking cadets through the Academy, recalling retirees, enacting stop-loss legislation, mobilizing reserves and relying on planetary and system militias.

 

This would've been a nice re-focus on the Maquis -- a back to basic of sorts when Cal Hudson was involved. The Maquis with a purpose again is a lot better than the faction turned into mediocrity by an overgrown man-child named Michael Eddington. Another thing would be interesting if the Bajoran government turned their backs from Starfleet when they implemented a draft? Maybe even joining the Maquis because someone needs to take a stand against mindless killing of people.

 

DS9 could have done a story along those lines with Jake. I think Jake was at least 18 years old during part of the war. I believe Jake reached the equivalent of the draft age (using 18 as that age) at some point before or during the war.

DS9 was at the front line of the war. If Starfleet had a need for manpower, someone (in this hypothetical story) could have questioned why Jake didn't enlist. That someone could have questioned Jake's patriotism or manhood. The story could have brought up issues of conscientious objector, the fairness or lack of fairness of a system where some go fight while others do not, and issues like that. It may or may not have made for a good story, though.

It wouldn't necessarily be just about Jake, but also about those issues. Jake did have his war related episode "Nor the Battle to the Strong". Besides Jake's own experience, on a larger level that episode dealt with other issues.

 

Maybe one of Jake's fellow writer friends visits the station, who is also an objector. "There's more than one way to fight a war. The war of ideas will ultimately do more damage than raw firepower." That sort of thing.

 

We only see the special uniform with the thin stripe in two episodes, both dealing with ground combat: "Nor the Battle to the Strong" (where it is worn by some of the fighters, say, the dying Lieutenant out in the field and the guy who shot himself in the foot, others wearing the standard one, say, some of the patients in the hospital), and "Siege of AR-558" (where again the fighters wear it but Bill Mumy's technician does not).

The "Nor the Battle" soldiers were explicated as Starfleet in dialogue, or at least the self-wounded guy in the stripe uniform was. Also, this guy was considered Ensign, a distinctly naval rank.

Nothing was stated about the specific allegiance of the "AR-558" folks, Starfleet or other. But they were (originally) commanded by people with naval ranks, and accepted Sisko's formal leadership easily enough. The folks also speak of Starfleet regulations and orders as pertaining to them. But amusingly enough, nobody ever actually refers to the fighters being Starfleet - there's commentary on their gear NOT being Starfleet issue, Starfleet being their factual ENEMY for abandoning them, them "NOT being the Starfleet you know" in Quark's estimation... Of course, all this is there to reinforce the idea that these guys are Starfleet even if they differ from the classic image, but technically it does not amount to stating this. And, FWIW, no naval ranks were mentioned in connection with the AR-558 team.

Timo Saloniemi

 

Agreed. I'd like to see some Maquis survivors (other than Chakotay and his crew in "Voyager") featured in a future Trek series. I especially would like to see Ro Laren back. Michelle Forbes did an excellent job playing her in TNG -- with her Bajoran backstory and how it shaped her life and outlooks later. I always wonder about her fate after she joined the Maquis. I hope they'll be able to bring her back somehow -- whether she's played by Forbes again or being recasted

 

But wasn't MACO officially disbanded a century before?

Of course, Starfleet could've established a new Marine Corps to deal w/both the Borg and the Dominion threat during the 2370s.

 

MACO was disbanded, and its members given commissions in Starfleet (as per STID).

I prefer to think that the SFMC has existed since the founding of the Federation, and was initially comprised of former MACOS.

(This didn't happen with Balthazar Edison or the other survivors of the Franklin, but that's just three people. Doesn't say what happened to the rest of the MACOS.)

As for why Edison and his crewmates didn't become part of the SFMC: My theory is that Edison was unstable and had xenophobic tendencies even before the crash (he was likely part of the Terra Prime movement). So Starfleet didn't trust him or the others, and shuffled them off to a minor command where they couldn't do much damage.

 

Well, some of its members, including at least one major war hero.

Weird, then, that Balthazar Edison never joined that organization, but was forced into a job he so utterly hated, "pushing frontiers" for an outfit that makes peace with enemies.

I mean, weird that it didn't happen to Edison, of all people. If he were given the choice, he would have chosen differently. But if he was not allowed to choose, then what's the story behind that one? Turning a war hero into an explorer sounds like an odd way to deal with a "problem" - if he were an uncontrollable hothead, then getting completely rid of him would seem more plausible, and if he weren't, why waste him this way? A publicity stunt to show everybody (including the losers of the war) how humans are so nice even their war heroes just collect space butterflies nowadays?

Timo Saloniemi

 

Ro became Captain on DS9 II in the novels, which is canon

 

Command of a ship of exploration sounds like a high damage potential position to me, though. Marines would be less problematic since he'd only be deployed when there was an actual threat or war.

So Starfleet just took her back?

 

I believe she started in the Bajoran militia, and later fased in Starfleet

 

It is not canon

After the Maquis were disbanded, Ro was among a small number who made it to Bajor and were granted officer commissions in the Bajoran Militia. Eventually, Ro ended up assigned to DS9 as Odo's replacement as chief of security. When Bajor joined the Federation, the Militia was absorbed into Starfleet, meaning Ro became a Starfleet officer again. She eventually got promoted to captain of the old station and now the new one.

 

Last time I checked, Star Trek novels and comic books, while licensed by CBS Paramount,are not canon.

If it's so, Picard should've been married to Beverly Crusher and have a son by now

 

That's neat. I had already imagined pretty much the same path back for her but I didn't know the novels had done it. I don't know that I'd have made her Captain very quickly, though, considering the history. How long roughly between her rejoining and winding up in command?

 

She was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Bajoran Militia and placed in charge of security on Deep Space Nine c. 2376, she considering resigning when (most of) the BM integrated into Starfleet a few months later. However, she was persuaded to stay by Captain Picard and returned to her old rank of Starfleet lieutenant and remained as the station's security chief. She was promoted to commander and first officer by Elias Vaughn when he took over from Kira as CO, and then in turn (interim?) CO herself when Vaughn took command of the James T. Kirk. She was promoted to Captain and CO shortly before the station's destruction in 2383, but remained the Senior Officer for Starfleet in the Bajoran system and commanded the project to build the new Deep Space Nine, which she took command of in 2384.

 

The US is not a military dictatorship.. ..it still uses the draft