Kirk's jump in rank makes sense
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Where did the idea that Starfleet can build ships faster than it can get recruits come from? The Enterprise seems almost done when Kirk joins the Academy, but it's still brand-new, with no crew on it, three years later. Doesn't really imply a great amount of speed to me.
Didn't we elect (majority at least) an absolute rookie as the President of the USA to rescue this nation and salvage this planet from the brink?
In 2006 Obama was nothing more than a fairy tale that belonged in a Spike Lee film...today he is a reality...
Completely the same with James T. Kirk being made Captain of the Fed Flagship at a desperate time for the Federation is an action that is filled with hope and optimism at the future ahead, despite the current precarious situation
In 2006 Obama was nothing more than a fairy tale that belonged in a Spike Lee film...today he is a reality...
Completely the same with James T. Kirk being made Captain of the Fed Flagship at a desperate time for the Federation is an action that is filled with hope and optimism at the future ahead, despite the current precarious situation
Even Obama had a law degree, time spent in the Illinois state legislature and the US Senate
At first I was in agreement that Kirk's jump was dumb. Then I realized that what he did was sort of the equivalent of a cadet at the Annapolis Naval Academy saving all of America. And something tells me that if a Cadet saved all of America (Earth) after Canada (Vulcan) was wiped off the face of the Earth. And if a Cadet did that, we wouldn't just make him a Captain (the public would demand it), we'd change the constitution to make him President.
Well, most things are at least partly meritocracies, but winning an open slot based on competency shown in past positions is a far cry from, say, a naval cadet somehow taking control of a carrier group in an emergency and the Navy brass saying, He did a pretty good job, let's let him keep it.
What I was trying to say is that assignments in the new timeline Starfleet are (or at least seem to be based on this movie) based on merit over and above other considerations. Ability matters more than experience or qualifications. If we're dealing with Romulans and you speak Romulan, you're the new Communications officer. If you're seventeen but a genius, you're a bridge officer. If you know how to fight, you're on the strike team. You took over sickbay when the CMO was killed, you're the new CMO.
Even with the destruction of the fleet at Vulcan, I'm sure there are no shortage of qualified command-level officers - ground personnel who want to get back into space, folks who happenbed to be off-world at the time, first officers from the ships that were in the Laurentian system. Lots of Commanders, Lt. Commanders, maybe even a few Captains, who didn't cheat on their Kobayashi Maru, who have years of experience moving up through the ranks and are ready to take the next step.
But they are all passed over for Kirk, because in the topsy-turvey world of NuTrek, through what I see as a combination of reliance on field promotion, merit trumping other considerations, and rank itself not being as important or as stratified as in OldTrek or as in our real military, Kirk has incumbancy: He's served as Captain of the Enterprise, done a good job, so they'll let him keep it, even though there are all those command-level officers waiting for a slot to open up.
Here's something to think about: if XO Kirk had been able to convince Captain Spock to chase down Nero and everything ended with that command structure intact, what would the command assignments have been afterwords? The way I see it, Spock would have remained as Enterprise captain, and Kirk would have retained his field promotion to XO, probably receiving a Lt. Commander rank. Of course, that would be partly at the discretion of the new Captain.
Starfleet Academy is analogous to the Naval Academy and other service academies. And from the Naval Academy, Ensign is EXACTLY the rank they graduate with.
They are expected to season and gain experience with rank, NO ONE gets out with Captain, no matter how talented. Because they need experience, too.
One thing we don't know for sure any more is whether Starfleet Academy is an undergraduate institution or constitutes post-graduate professional training.
Personally, I thought it was ridiculous. I'm sure all the junior and mid level officers he leapfrogged appreciated it too. Sigh...
Military leaders aren't popularly elected.
McCoy entered the Academy the same time as Kirk, and I believe he was wearing lt. commander stripes once he boarded the Enterprise. Seems reasonable to believe Kirk already had the same or higher rank, even though it doesn't make sense by today's standards. Captain isn't too much of a jump from there...
Even in today's services this is not necessarily consistent. Some professionals are sworn-in as officers and then go to OTS. My father, a retired Air Force Major General, recently swore in an experienced nurse as a Lt. Colonel (Full Commander in ST terms) Bureaucratically it turned out that she was supposed to be sworn-in as a Major (Lt. Commander in ST) and this was corrected, but either one is a real-life example of becoming an instant command-level rank before attending any training at all.
We have no idea what Kirk's career was pre-bar-fight. As brilliant as he supposedly is it's possible he already has multiple degrees and even a few years of valuable experience as a civilian. After all, even someone as cocky as nuKirk would need to have some reason to look a Starfleet Captain in the eye and say "I'll do it in three," and believe he can follow-through. It's entirely plausible that he's already faced and conquered similar challenges like earning his bachelor's and master's by the time he's 20 for instance.
The President of the United States is the Commander In Chief of the US armed forces. He is the highest ranked military leader and he is popularly elected.
To be REEALLLYYY technical--he is not. He is elected by the Electoral College. (sorry, couldn't resist)
He's actually not the highest ranked military leader, he is the civilian leader of the US military.
The key word in your post is the word nurse. You are talking about the Direct Commissioning program. Direct Commissioning is for carrier track officers with highly specialized skills and not for people who will be in command positions. Its for people like doctors, nurses, and lawyers and doesn't apply to someone who is put in command of an air craft carrier (which is pretty equivalent to what Kirk is in command of). Again, it is also for people who have years of experience and training in their field.Just face it, it was sloppy writing. thats all their is to it. It can be retconed or justified however you like, at the end of the day the creators of this film rushed the ending for the sake of having him in the captains chair
Right, and I think it's a legitimate explanation to say it's a meritocracy - I just don't agree with the basic philosophy behind it. And I loved the movie.
In most cases, I don't mind where JJ and Crew made Star Trek a little more Star Warsy, but this one really did smack of "Well, Luke was destined for greatness, so is Kirk." It's tied into the whole "great men are inherently great" view of history, which I reject. Some things can only be learned through experience.
Still, I'm not going to let it ruin the movie for me.
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