Mandatory Starfleet service
- Thread starter Laura Cynthia Chambers
- Start date
Every thread! 
But if we don't see the actual room they're in, then it could be on the bridge for all we know!!!
Random observation, Riker sure uses a lot of shaving cream. Or does he just not know how much he should use, since this could very well be the first time he's shaved his face in a decade?
If the Federation became a fascist government, sure. In the UFP as depicted on the show? Nope.
Mandatory military service is hardly fascist. Lots of democratic nations practice it.
South Korea, for example. You wouldn't call THEM fascist, would you?
South Korea, for example. You wouldn't call THEM fascist, would you?
The issue that might make this different in the 23rd and 24th centuries is that the dynamics of war may have changed where just drafting from the general population wouldn't make sense.
- Most nations in the modern-present institute a draft to fill the ranks of their infantry, especially when they're either in emergent situations or under threat (e.g., South Korea is technically still in a state of war with the North, and Israel is surrounded by belligerent factions that don't believe in its right to exist).
- It takes a relatively short amount of time (i.e., usually 8-13 weeks) to give draftees a foundation for being in an infantry unit, how to operate a weapon, and preparing them for further specialization to perform tasks within a ground unit. I'm guessing the time to teach the operation of a starship and dealing with space weirdness would take considerably longer and might make it more prohibitive to just draft randos to operate a warp core.
- And all of this would bring up the question of what use it would be to develop a large number of ground forces in a setting where enemy forces can bombard the surface with photon torpedoes and disruptor fire? Can you imagine going through the time and resources to train a bunch of "grunts" only for the Jem'Hadar to vaporize them as soon as they hit the surface?
- To what extent the Federation still operates ground forces, we've largely not seen it. There's very little to support the idea that Starfleet operates an equivalent of a Marine Corps. We don't see it during crises. Also, boarding actions (knocking out the shields and sending in Marine units to commandeer and capture an enemy ship) doesn't seem to be a standard tactic of Starfleet.
- Where we have seen Starfleet personnel being forced into ground combat, it's usually not specialized combat troops. It's a bunch of technicians, engineers, and scientists that have been forced into picking up a phaser. During TNG's "Chain of Command," Jellico doesn't say get our Marine units ready for possible combat. Instead, he's transferring Geordi's engineers away to do security duty. Even when Picard is tasked with going on a secret mission into Cardassian space, they don't send a special forces unit with him to do covert ops. They order Crusher and Worf to train in order to do the mission with him.
- To the extent Starfleet has dedicated combat forces, that seems to be covered by Starfleet Security. But Starfleet Security's duties seems to include being responsible for a ship's defenses. So Worf was responsible for knowing the ins and outs of the phaser banks and torpedo systems and how to keep those systems at peak efficiency. So it implies that a scientific background that understands how those systems work is needed in order to be part of that department so as to be able to help when the phasers need to be routed through warp power or a photon torpedo needs to be reconfigured for a specific task.
There were "grunts" in the show where Nog gets injured. I should think there'd be more than a few of those battles with Jem Hadar. There just didn't show the depths of battle. I doubt there'd be interest in DS9 fans for a season of Band of Brothers.
One of those Trek stories we have to forgive cos the script said says so, but does not stand up to scrutiny...its a stupid premise. That mission and the mission of The Enterprise Incident should be under specially trained Starfleet intelligence operatives not random Starship captain.
Watch Star Trek The Final Frontier
Tell that to the people who did up the computer graphics for the bridge of the Dauntless on Prodigy, which does include multiple references to Marines.
Can you post a picture?
Here's a post in the Prodigy forum with a picture:
They have definitely scaled up the Dauntless for season 1.5, since this cutaway and deck plan from the last episode of 1.0 has the ship (source) has the ship barely bigger than the Voyager version. Either that or the guys doing the bridge LCARS just weren't told the correct size/they made an assumption.
My idea is that the Federation never had a draft, but the Dominion War caused them to bring out Reserve forces, which hadn't happened since at least the 23rd century.
The Yesterday's Enterprise timeline would've had a draft, though.
The Yesterday's Enterprise timeline would've had a draft, though.
I suppose that enough of 24th century education is applicable to Starfleet service, if not expressly for that purpose (lab computers vs ship computers, scanners, etc). Any scientist who's about to travel long distances in a ship to their research field needs to have a certain amount of knowledge about the systems they're interacting with en route. It's like anyone who drives would do well to have basic knowledge about their car, whether or not they're in a mechanical trade, or anyone who lives in a home has transferable maintenance skills for repairing certain things.
A simple assessment to determine gaps in one's knowledge and ability can lead to a custom catch-up program that can enable someone to be battle/mission-ready in as little time as possible.
A simple assessment to determine gaps in one's knowledge and ability can lead to a custom catch-up program that can enable someone to be battle/mission-ready in as little time as possible.
Or first time he's done it in this fashion ever -- why wouldn't you have a laser or transporter based shaving system which gives an instant close shave. Many men just use an electric shaver nowadays, I'm sure that in the trek future technology would have even better solutions.
You guys just don't know. I use a brush and solid soap for shaving. It makes an awesome lather and gets a close shave. And that method is, what?, 50 plus years old? Likely still will be available then.
Starfleet does have ground forces. We've seen them many times, mostly on DS9.
What these ground forces are actually called is open for debate. Me, I personally prefer the term 'Starfleet Marines' and it's always been in my headcanon.
I do remember reading once that Gene Roddenberry wanted to include a platoon of Starfleet Marines in TOS but was unable (For whatever reason) to do so. Furthermore, I am fairly sure that the ground-pounders who accompany Kirk and crew to Nimbus III in ST V are intended to be Starfleet Marines. They're the ones with the dark blue turtlenecks.
And of course there's COLONEL West from ST VI.
Didn't we see Sisko shaving once on DS9, and he was using a glowing purple cube?
Do NOT, under any circumstances, attempt to google Stallone's suggested explanation for how the three seashells work.
Just....DON'T.
Just....DON'T.
I did that years ago...
