Alternate TNG Trek Uniforms and Ranks

[JJohnson]

One thing I did like in Enterprise was the fact that they had pockets!! It made sense to me. I don't see why someone wouldn't need them, but I guess aboard ship, the commbadge takes care of any identity verification.

One other thing I was looking through was ratings/MOS. We have engineer's mate, yeoman, etc., which in modern Navies have insignia. Where would that be indicated on this uniform, if anywhere? On the shoulder stripe? Or perhaps only on dress uniforms like the sleeve rank pins of the Wrath of Khan era?

 

[The Librarian]

I would put it on the shoulder stripe.

 

[JJohnson]

That's what I was thinking would be best for duty uniforms. Perhaps on the sleeve in place of the second rank pin when using dress uniforms.

A related question would be - what are the ratings for people like the CMO, Chief Engineer, First Officer, etc.? Those are positions in and of themselves, rather than something you really train for. Is it possible your First officer's rating is "Quartermaster's Mate" or something else? How's that work in the US Navy?

 

[marksound]

The only real problem I have with these is that there are too many variants. One or two regular duty, one dress, one work uniform is plenty. IMO, of course.

 

[J.T.B.]

Some interesting takes on uniforms, there. I like how they keep the TNG feel throughout.

My main dislike would be the excessive number of 'fancy' variants. I don't see any reason why you need a dress uniform, then also mess dress and dress whites. It's kind of silly now and seems even more so in Trek, even with replicators taken into account. It seems like either a uniform is formal or it's not, there's no need to have formal, extra formal, and super-extra formal, especially in the main differences are just a little extra glitter (in a society that doesn't place extra value on silver or gold) or a couple extra stripes.

I thought the same thing. The real-world trend has definitely been toward practicality and simplification. WW1 was kind of the high point for "fancy" uniforms; by the time WW2 ended US Navy officers' service dress blues and whites -- ordinary, everyday duty wear before the war -- were as formal as things got, though mess jackets did come back, optionally, in the '50s. The way I see it, three uniforms should do it: dress, duty, and field/working/utility.

Modern materials have made summer-weight uniforms more practical, there's not really a need for lighter-colored uniforms for warm weather anymore. The US Army, Marines and Air Force have all dropped their khaki/tan service and white dress uniforms. The navy will probably hang on to its dress whites for the foreseeable future, but I don't really see Starfleet as needing a white variation.

That is also the reason, I really like wat they did with the uniforms in TMP, where there seems to be quite a bit of freedom when it comes to "dresscode" for the crew. But I´m aware I may be rather alone with liking that

No, you're not alone. Conceptually, the TMP uniforms were the strongest in all Trek.

One other thing I was looking through was ratings/MOS. We have engineer's mate, yeoman, etc., which in modern Navies have insignia. Where would that be indicated on this uniform, if anywhere? On the shoulder stripe? Or perhaps only on dress uniforms like the sleeve rank pins of the Wrath of Khan era?

It's hard for me to picture since Star Trek did without that sort of thing for so long. The real-world trend is away from that, too. In the US Navy, with the demise of enlisted summer white, that actual rating badges with specialty are now only seen on dress uniforms, and the peacoat. But the upper sleeve would be traditional.

ETA:

A related question would be - what are the ratings for people like the CMO, Chief Engineer, First Officer, etc.? Those are positions in and of themselves, rather than something you really train for. Is it possible your First officer's rating is "Quartermaster's Mate" or something else? How's that work in the US Navy?

Enlisted personnel -- petty officers -- have ratings, officers do not. On a USN ship, most of the departments are run by line officers, who are trained to, eventually, take command of ships. The exceptions are the supply department, run by a supply corps officer, and the medical department, run by a medical corps officer, who can't ever command a vessel.

 

[The Librarian]

That's what I was thinking would be best for duty uniforms. Perhaps on the sleeve in place of the second rank pin when using dress uniforms.

A related question would be - what are the ratings for people like the CMO, Chief Engineer, First Officer, etc.? Those are positions in and of themselves, rather than something you really train for. Is it possible your First officer's rating is "Quartermaster's Mate" or something else? How's that work in the US Navy?

Ratings of that sort are only used with enlisted, iirc. A 'mate' is technically an NCO or specialist, as opposed to a more generalized sailor or crewman. A bosun's mate is a specialist in various on-deck and damage control functions and is (depending on exact rank, and the period) capable of supervising and directing less experienced crew. Someone who's a whatever's mate is likely a petty officer by rank.

The officers meanwhile don't have those sort of ratings, especially since they move around between departments much more over the course of their careers, starting off as Random Junior Officer #13 and moving up to division, department, and ship-wide supervisory roles over their careers. You might start off in navigation, move down to engineering next, be chief weapons officer, then XO - little of this on the same ship, and with the importance and rank of a given position varying depending on the size of the ship. Plus there is also shore duty. (This mostly applies to line officers and not certain specialties like medical or legal, who are not part of the normal chain of command.) Submariner officers are pretty much required to do time as an engineer before they can get a command, for example.

All this is the US navy, of course, which is something to keep in mind when thinking about Starfleet. It's just as valid to draw on the Royal (Canadian/Australian/New Zealand) Navy, or the Bundesmarine, or the Imperial Andorian Icebreaker Force. Starfleet seems to keep officers a bit more in their specialties, but not always. Worf and Geordie are prime examples of this. They both start off as generic helm and bridge officers, then become department heads, Worf spends time as 'strategic operations officer' and Defiant XO, and Geordie eventually becomes a captain. Starfleet also is fine with people staying in one position or rank for a long time, and willing to keep a ship's command crew together until the sun goes cold if they're effective enough.