Is the Planetary Union in "Orville" a military?

[Captain of the USS Averof]

I think you guys are probably all giving this way more thought than the writers probably have at this point.

Just like regular Trek then!

 

[jamesraykenney]

The reason why I am unsure about it being a military is the kind of relax manner the characters have even when on the job. Not so much that it isn't military but not something that would be sent on the front lines if you had a war. I have never been in the service but I alway asumed that not everyone who joins up becomes a traditional soldier. Like who runs the drones and who works on the machine?. Then again what exactly does a traditional soldier do on a army base during most of the day when not on missions?

Jason

I will just post what I told a friend that just saw a scene from it...

It is set in a 'mostly' post-scarcity society in 2419 with faster travel times than in Star Trek but without transporters(for the Planetary Union at least, though they do get them withing a few hundred year it seems). They seem to have rather lax discipline owing to their being in a post-scarcity society and are having major problems manning their fleet of 3000 ships... Why would anyone sign on if they were too strict.

In a society where there is no money and you seem to be able to get most things you want just by asking for them, how would you ever get anyone to volunteer for a dangerous job if you also made it an overly strict place to work...
This is something that TNG and later got wrong. Unless people just LIKE being ordered around... You would have to run it more like the Scouts, where honor is everything and you may be looked down upon, but no one is going to stop you from quitting anytime it is safe to. They seem to run on a reputation as currency basis. If you want to do something that is not 'free', you will have to convince someone that is in charge of that to let you... And the better you reputation is, the more likely you are for them to agree to it.