Regarding Miles O'Brien

[Shamrock Holmes]

Mind you, Tactical Officer need not be the guy pushing the phaser trigger buttons on a starship. Some of the Tactical Officers could well be specialists in planetside fighting, and O'Brien might have been one of those. I mean, that's how I'd make use of his skills if I were Captain Maxwell, freshly saved from the Setlik surface ambush by one of my Marines. O'Brien never demonstrated any skill in starship combat, really - the best he (his clone!) could do there was make a runabout come ahead in a chase in "Whispers".

Personally, I've always reconciled that "Tactical Officer" could be short form for "Petty Officer or Commissioned Officer assigned to Tactical (Operations)" however, as far as "not demonstrated any skill in starship combat" there is this gem from DS9: Rules of Engagement:

CH'POK: Chief, how many years have you been in Starfleet?
O'BRIEN: Twenty two.
CH'POK: And how many combat situations have you been in?
O'BRIEN: I couldn't even guess.
CH'POK: Try.
O'BRIEN: A hundred, hundred and fifty?
CH'POK: For the record, Chief O'Brien has been in two hundred and thirty five separate engagements and Starfleet has decorated him fifteen times. I would like to have him declared an expert in the area of starship combat.

We could also argue that (in-universe) the fact that he was assigned to Tactical during the tachyon blockade in TNG: Redemption part II over (presumably) dozens of specialists or officers from the Tactical/Security Division that could have taken over at the post.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

To approach this from a different angle, Riker was told on numerous occasions that if he did not leave the Enterprise for a less prestigious position, it might like as if he "was standing still," not really advancing. It might happen that many in Starfleet, commissioned and non-commissioned, are confronted with this choice about serving on risky or prestigious missions, and that the choice has ramifications for their career. Elisabeth Lense, as the valedictorian of her class, picked the prestige position on the Lexington, but found that the opportunities for interesting and longterm research were quite limited. Furthermore, she learned to appreciate the less prestigious position on DS9. I also think that Picard as the captan of the "flagship of the Federation" would have been unimagnable without having been the captain of the Stargazer.

In this light, O'Brien being a transporter operator may have been for which he was overqualified, a position that had to be filled on a prestigious ship but that offered few opportunities for him to use his talents.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

In this light, O'Brien being a transporter operator may have been for which he was overqualified, a position that had to be filled on a prestigious ship but that offered few opportunities for him to use his talents.

This would consistent with the idea that he didn't originally train as a Transporter but rather as an Engineer, Operations or Armory tech, or even as a Combat Engineer (consistent with his early/original posting as a Soldier and later Tactical Officer during the Federation/Cardassian War).

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Well, if there's plenty of personnel in your preferred position, you may just take what you can get until something better/making better use of your skills/abilities comes along.

 

[Prax]

Didn't he personally kill 200+ spoonheads or something? He wasn't Chief Tactical Officer, He was Chief Tactical Rambo!

 

[Timo]

Personally, I've always reconciled that "Tactical Officer" could be short form for "Petty Officer or Commissioned Officer assigned to Tactical (Operations)" however, as far as "not demonstrated any skill in starship combat" there is this gem from DS9: Rules of Engagement:

Great catch! Although given the fundamental Ch'Pokness of Ch'Pok, I think we can't rely on O'Brien being an exceptionally qualified individual, or even on his decorations being relevant to the field of starship combat specifically...

We could also argue that (in-universe) the fact that he was assigned to Tactical during the tachyon blockade in TNG: Redemption part II over (presumably) dozens of specialists or officers from the Tactical/Security Division that could have taken over at the post.

Indeed. Or we could argue that everybody in that fleet was doing a side job, what with Picard spreading out his resources. O'Brien doing Tactical might be the equivalent of LaForge doing XO, a "waste" of expertise.

In any case, Picard wasn't expecting starship combat, and indeed would have considered his mission a failure if it came to that.

This would consistent with the idea that he didn't originally train as a Transporter but rather as an Engineer, Operations or Armory tech, or even as a Combat Engineer (consistent with his early/original posting as a Soldier and later Tactical Officer during the Federation/Cardassian War).

Do we need to assume he had any engineering training to begin with? Picard made it sound more like a hobby in "All Good Things...", and the "Paradise" backstory seems to emphasize O'Brien's early ignorance on not just transporter tech but engineering in general.

The idea of Combat Engineers is intriguing in any case. We don't know how Starfleet plays the color game exactly, but e.g. the ground troopers in "Siege of AR-558" had lots and lots of gold to their uniforms. Yet O'Brien got a color swap as the result of his transporter-fixing antics, into gold. Was that because he became the Tactical (Petty) Officer, or because he at that point became a Combat Engineer (who also coincidentally briefly happened to man the Tactical position because of casualties)?

We don't know the proper color for Tactical Officers, because in both TNG and DS9 the guy who did that doubled as Security Chief. Kirk's tactical specialists wore either gold or blue, as per "Arena", so the odd color out in TNG terms is gold!

Didn't he personally kill 200+ spoonheads or something? He wasn't Chief Tactical Officer, He was Chief Tactical Rambo!

He never admits to any body count. In "Empok Nor", Garak ramps up his guesses to "hundreds", but that's neither here nor there. His big achievement was "taking out" a regiment at Setlik III, but since Starfleet wages war on stun, and since Cardassians certainly aren't immune to it or particularly likely to commit suicide, it may be he killed nobody there!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

The idea of Combat Engineers is intriguing in any case. We don't know how Starfleet plays the color game exactly, but e.g. the ground troopers in "Siege of AR-558" had lots and lots of gold to their uniforms. Yet O'Brien got a color swap as the result of his transporter-fixing antics, into gold. Was that because he became the Tactical (Petty) Officer, or because he at that point became a Combat Engineer (who also coincidentally briefly happened to man the Tactical position because of casualties)?

We don't know the proper color for Tactical Officers, because in both TNG and DS9 the guy who did that doubled as Security Chief. Kirk's tactical specialists wore either gold or blue, as per "Arena", so the odd color out in TNG terms is gold!

He never admits to any body count. In "Empok Nor", Garak ramps up his guesses to "hundreds", but that's neither here nor there. His big achievement was "taking out" a regiment at Setlik III, but since Starfleet wages war on stun, and since Cardassians certainly aren't immune to it or particularly likely to commit suicide, it may be he killed nobody there!

It's a fair point re: body count.

I've always thought the "color game" re: Security and Weapons is a bit weird, but as you note above the inconsisency is the TNG+ era suggestion that they are the same thing or even the same division (esp if it's "Engineering"). Honestly, I've sometimes thought that the "Security Chief" role (esp in TNG) was actually more like that of the "First Lieutenant" (officer in charge of day-to-day operations outside of the Bridge and Engineering spaces) as Worf appears to be in charge of Armory (Engineers per ENT and TNG+*, Command per TOS), Security (Separate Division per ENT and TOS (M) [sometimes combined with 'services' (yeoman, mess, logistics etc*], Engineering per TOS and TNG+), Communications (Sciences per ENT, Engineering per TOS and TNG+^) and Astrophysics (suggesting he may also supervise Navigation).

* I prefer this option.
^ Could be either with Linguistics, Antropologists etc in Science (officers and enlisted) and repair techs (enlisted) drawing from Engineering.

 

[Leviathan]

Personally, I've always reconciled that "Tactical Officer" could be short form for "Petty Officer or Commissioned Officer assigned to Tactical (Operations)" however, as far as "not demonstrated any skill in starship combat" there is this gem from DS9: Rules of Engagement:

CH'POK: Chief, how many years have you been in Starfleet?
O'BRIEN: Twenty two.
CH'POK: And how many combat situations have you been in?
O'BRIEN: I couldn't even guess.
CH'POK: Try.
O'BRIEN: A hundred, hundred and fifty?
CH'POK: For the record, Chief O'Brien has been in two hundred and thirty five separate engagements and Starfleet has decorated him fifteen times. I would like to have him declared an expert in the area of starship combat.

We could also argue that (in-universe) the fact that he was assigned to Tactical during the tachyon blockade in TNG: Redemption part II over (presumably) dozens of specialists or officers from the Tactical/Security Division that could have taken over at the post.

...that's how he got the cushy Transporter assignment! Dude had PTSD and needed a bit of a break.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

...that's how he got the cushy Transporter assignment! Dude had PTSD and needed a bit of a break.

I've heard stranger ideas.

 

[Jedman67]

...that's how he got the cushy Transporter assignment! Dude had PTSD and needed a bit of a break.

 

[Fleet Captain Garland]

Chief O'brien was the typical Non-commissioned officer...moving from one assignment to another...some assignments have greater responsibly...you see Chief in the background on a HUGE ship....as an NCO he will be working in the bsckgroud...in DS9 he is a MASTER CHIEF..same rank I the Army is Sergeant Major...they are always in the fore ground....so what you see starting in TNG and culminating in DS9 is Chief''s climbing the ranks...and there are 3 levels of Chief, Chief, Senior Chief and Master Chief....those are my thoughts....

 

[kkt]

Another consideration might be the birth of Molly. Perhaps he felt a backwater assignment on DS9 would be safer and less likely for something bad to happen to any of the O'Briens, so he requested it when they were staffing the station.

 

[Jetboogieman]

Another consideration might be the birth of Molly. Perhaps he felt a backwater assignment on DS9 would be safer and less likely for something bad to happen to any of the O'Briens, so he requested it when they were staffing the station.

Yeah not so sure about that, because if he thought that was the case, it would make him dumber than a bag of rocks.

 

[kkt]

It certainly didnt' work out to be a safe backwater post... but O'Brien could no more have predicted the wormhole than anybody else.

 

[Prax]

^Boy was he wrong. not only did terrible things happen to him more than once per season, his wife was possessed by Bajoran demons, almost died, and Molly got lost in a time portal, conveniently located in nearby cave whilst out on a picnic. My heart goes out to the O'Briens. I'm glad they'll have a happy retirement on earth.

 

[Jetboogieman]

It certainly didnt' work out to be a safe backwater post... but O'Brien could no more have predicted the wormhole than anybody else.

He transferred to an otupost that was a shitheap he had to put back together, after a brutal occupation in which the occupiers, which he had himself fought during the Federation-Cardassian wars, contested control of the station on Day One of the Federation Presence there with Warships.

I doubt he was under any illusion as to the potential dangers serving on Deep Space Nine.

 

[kkt]

The station would certainly have a lot of engineering work to do. It wouldn't be expected to be a battleground between Cardassia and Bajor, as Cardassia had finally decided to leave Bajor. The Klingon and Dominion threats were the result of the wormhole which was a surprise to all concerned.

 

[Prax]

Didn't the Cardie's try to retake the station on O'Brien's first day on the job? Or blow it up maybe?

 

[Voth commando1]

That made me chuckle.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Didn't the Cardie's try to retake the station on O'Brien's first day on the job? Or blow it up maybe?

They didn't try to retake the station, but they did deliberately wreck it as they withdrew (O'Brien said that Bajorans had died trying to protect their shops).