How Capable Was O'Brien

[TimeIsAPredator]

Yes, O'Brien had just worked on the transporter for four years on the Enterprise, and suddenly has taking care of everything on the entire station, and their technology isn't even Federation!

If you look at the DS9 crew in season 1 Sisko is not a captain and is looking a bit washed up, Dax is a young lieutenant and Bashir kinda makes out that it was a surprise someone as talented as him would pick DS9.

It seems to me that DS9 was the crappiest posting in starfleet so they were probably delighted anyone took the job.

Also O'Brien was very experienced and it is suggested that doing something as boring as the transporters was something he was over qualified but choose due to a battle weariness or some form of PTSD

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

I can't see Ben Maxwell heralding him as his miraculous wartime tactical officer without that title came with being an actual commissioned officer while serving as it.

Well that rather depends on which parts of the many roles of the "tactical officer" that he was handling. If he's just the (Senior) Weapons Console Operator for the Bridge, and possibly the (Senior) Security Officer, then he could easily have been a Petty Officer/Specialist or Chief (Master at Arms and Fire Controlman/Fire Control Technician/Gunner's Mate are all ratings not officers in the RW), the Tactical Officer being a commissioned officer is only necessary if the post holder is a (senior) member of the chain-of-command, if not then this part of the role could be held by the "Number One", Operations Manager or even (Chief) Science Officer, particularly if the ship has lost many of it's senior personnel and several roles are being held in an "acting" capacity.

 

[TopperHenly]

That's how I figure it too. It's clear that O'Brien was more than just a transporter operator on the Enterprise anyhow. There are multiple times when the thing is malfunctioning or whatever, & he's part of the group tooling it with LaForge or Data etc... I like to think of his move to DS9 as a big opportunity that came his way mostly because of his wartime service reputation, & technical expertise in Cardassian tech.

In one of the episodes, I think O'Brien said he had to learn to operate a teleporter or be captured. I could imagine he would have had a lot of similar experiences where he had to improvise in that way in order to keep alive and possibly that would involve using Cardassian technology.

Anyway, it gave him the confidence to pursue a career that until then he thought he would never have been able to do. It may have pushed him to achieve more than he would have normally done in normal circumstances.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

If you look at the DS9 crew in season 1 Sisko is not a captain and is looking a bit washed up, Dax is a young lieutenant and Bashir kinda makes out that it was a surprise someone as talented as him would pick DS9.

It seems to me that DS9 was the crappiest posting in starfleet so they were probably delighted anyone took the job.

Before the wormhole was discovered it probably wasn't much of a key posting, more just there to facilitate Federation aid to Bajor and monitor their suitability for membership, so it was always going to be a posting that didn't attract big names or lots of attention when initially established.

I wish there had been an episode where Starfleet considered bringing in a higher ranking replacement for Sisko, given the increased importance of the outpost with the presence of the wormhole. Have it as an opportunity for Opaka to make a guest appearance and decree that their mission would fail without the Emissary in charge.

 

[Qonundrum]

I just rewatched the first two episodes of DS9 since the first time they were on the air and it occurred to me, Miles O'Brien is extremely capable. He was transporter chief for years on the Enterprise-D, a seemingly specialized role, and once he is promoted off to DS9 he is basically chief engineer in everything but name.

Was O'Brien just that amazing, as Lower Decks would have us believe (obviously he is amazing regardless)? Or are the people in the position of transporter operator severely over qualified? Or, perhaps, is transporter operation just that hard?

LD (a show I like and find to often be very amusing) is partial satire, there are many ways to interpret the LD scene. The scene could easily have been mocking him. Or perhaps not. Being a comedy, parody, and arguably also a satire of the franchise (like the 1990s Brady Bunch movies were to the 1970s original show), it is arguably closer to that of "friendly dig". (The episode was otherwise good but the ending was a little baffling, and open for interpretation.)

That and the show was focusing on TNG since, despite their numbers, DS9 and VOY did have smaller (but more established/core) audiences and thus not be included but somewhere some part of the audience will not be happy but I digress. This would change considerably the perception of O'Brien compared to looking at TNG in its own casual vacuum. (Also note and other debatable notion: Society often laughs at specialized figures and wants everything to be as generic and flat as possible.)

 

[FederationHistorian]

Chief of Operations is a strange animal...
Enterprise: Chief of operations was a LCDR, a senior officer, and third in command of the ship.
DS9: Chief of operations was a highly senior enlisted man with an engineering background.
Voyager: Chief of operations was an ensign right out of the Academy.

For one, chief of operations might be a station oriented position only. Meaning its not applicable to starship officers. But even working with your post here...

When it comes to Kim, he likely would have had a higher rank if anyone but Janeway was the captain, and therefore be a senior officer on the ship really early into his career.

And Data is highly skilled, both as an android and engineer, so being chief of operations on the Enterprise would make sense here too.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

When it comes to Kim, he likely would have had a higher rank if anyone but Janeway was the captain, and therefore be a senior officer on the ship really early into his career.

I don't think it's unreasonable that Kim started with the rank of Ensign, but you have a point that other captains might have been more willing to promote than Janeway was.

 

[Oddish]

I don't think it's unreasonable that Kim started with the rank of Ensign, but you have a point that other captains might have been more willing to promote than Janeway was.

I don't think there's much doubt about that. There's five alternate realities/timelines, in which Harry was not under Janeway's command.
Non Sequitur: Harry is 8 months out of Academy, and basically a shoo in for Lieutenant rank.
Before and After: Janeway is dead, Chakotay is captain, and Harry is a ○○ lieutenant.
Timeless: Harry is a commander.
Endgame: Harry is a captain.
Online: Harry is a captain.

The only time Harry isn't under Janeway's command that he ISN'T promoted is "Resolutions", and that's no great surprise. Tuvok didn't alter his own rank or even put on a red uniform.

The fan theory that Janeway secretly has it in for Harry looks surprisingly plausible, doesn't it?

 

[C.E. Evans]

It could be that aboard Intrepid-class starships--or at least on Voyager--the chief operations officer billet only warrants an ensign as the rest of the department is staffed by noncoms and junior enlisted personnel. Maybe the post doesn't even warrant an ensign for all we know. Maybe on other Intrepid-class ships, the operations chief is a noncom.

 

[STEPhon IT]

O'Brien has an incredible past, he was also a person who fought the Cardassians and had to use some ingenuity to survive it. He was smart, and a passion for whatever position he was assigned, I would want most if not all of my transporter operations to have such a resume to assign him to where ever I want him to be or what he would desire to be.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

It could be that aboard Intrepid-class starships--or at least on Voyager--the chief operations officer billet only warrants an ensign as the rest of the department is staffed by noncoms and junior enlisted personnel.

I think it's unlikely that the Operations Officer role is individually limited to ENS, after all Owo is a LTJG on Discovery and her crew isn't much larger in s1.

As far as the rest of the department goes, I'd be surprised if there's more than a handful of officers, with the rest as rated specialists between Crewman and Chief.

IMO, it's more likely that there's a limit to the overall number of officers of each rank and Janeway used up her "allocation" promoting Maquis.

 

[BillJ]

As capable as the writers needed him to be.

 

[Timo]

I think it's unlikely that the Operations Officer role is individually limited to ENS, after all Owo is a LTJG on Discovery and her crew isn't much larger in s1.

Also, Harry was never said to have been slated to be COO. He was merely the new Ops Officer, quite possibly the very juniormost of the team, and his boss died at LCdr rank in "Caretaker", along with Harry's full Lt day shift counterpart.

The truly strange there would be having Lieutenant Ayala doing Harry's job when the hero character is otherwise occupied. Why promote this Maquis over Harry but still let Harry be the boss and the one who attends Captain's Whippings?

IMO, it's more likely that there's a limit to the overall number of officers of each rank and Janeway used up her "allocation" promoting Maquis.

If we consider Tuvok's promotion to LCmdr in light of his odd rank markers in the first season, perhaps we could say it was no promotion at all - Janeway merely restored Tuvok's rank after having had him demoted to Lieutenant for a brief while, just as with Paris in "30 Days". It might then be that Janeway felt she had zero right to promote any Starfleet officer or crew member in any fashion, without signed orders from HQ? (She would have had such orders for making Paris a Lieutenant for his services in "Caretaker", even if she later demoted him to Junior.)

Timo Saloniemi

 

[flandry84]

The captain’s whippings??
Glad I missed that episode!

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

The truly strange there would be having Lieutenant Ayala doing Harry's job when the hero character is otherwise occupied. Why promote this Maquis over Harry but still let Harry be the boss and the one who attends Captain's Whippings?

Yeah, Ayala's arguably a more glaring problem than Harry not getting promoted. We can't even use the "Bridge Officer" exception that apparently allows him to outrank B'Elanna, as Ayala himself is also a Bridge Officer.

 

[C.E. Evans]

t could be that aboard Intrepid-class starships--or at least on Voyager--the chief operations officer billet only warrants an ensign as the rest of the department is staffed by noncoms and junior enlisted personnel.

I think it's unlikely that the Operations Officer role is individually limited to ENS, after all Owo is a LTJG on Discovery and her crew isn't much larger in s1.

Different ships. They're not all staffed the same. That's why I specifically said "aboard Intrepid-class ships--or at least on Voyager." On Crossfield-class ships, or maybe just Discovery, it's a different ship and another matter entirely and the billet for operations officer may require an officer of higher rank. It could also easily be a case that the operations department on Discovery is larger than that of Voyager's and has multiple officers there.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

On Crossfield-class ships, or maybe just Discovery, it's a different ship and another matter entirely and the billet for operations officer may require an officer of higher rank.

The problem with that idea is that the higher ranked Operations Officer on USS Discovery actually has less responsiblities as they are assisted by the Communications Officer (also a JG), Spore Drive Operations Officer (intially a LCDR -- like Data and 2250s Spock dual-hatted as Second Officer -- then replaced by a LT) and a Science Officer (various ranks), whereas Kim covers all four roles (COMMO, OPS, ENG/DC Liaison, Science Officer) initially.

Actually, now I think about it... Seven of Nine taking over the Science Officer role and some of his ENG Liaison duties might actually have something to do with him not being promoted, as while Datalore and Nog's career suggests that earlier promotion is possible, it's by no means automatic (Geordi for instance appears to have had a similarly delayed jump to JG, although his practically skipping LT somewhat makes up for it).

 

[C.E. Evans]

The problem with that idea is that the higher ranked Operations Officer on USS Discovery actually has less responsiblities as they are assisted by the Communications Officer (also a JG), Spore Drive Operations Officer (intially a LCDR -- like Data and 2250s Spock dual-hatted as Second Officer -- then replaced by a LT) and a Science Officer (various ranks), whereas Kim covers all four roles (COMMO, OPS, ENG/DC Liaison, Science Officer) initially.

Which still wouldn't negate that different ships are staffed differently. Not all ships are exactly the same. Not all crews are the same. Aboard the Voyager, there may only be one operations officer. On the Discovery and the Enterprise-D, there could be several. There may even be smaller ships without an operations officer at all.

 

[dupersuper]

He still wasn't the miracle worker Scotty was though.

Though according to Bashir, their repair jobs looked much the same.

since the advent of "Seaman to Admiral" program

I shall not snicker in a juvenile fashion...

I think it was "The Mind's Eye". And O'Brien always was capable, like how he thought of using the transporter trace in "Unnatural Selection".

Thus granting immortality to every one in the Federation...