Resigning from Starfleet

[Makarov]

After watching Redemption I'm trying to think of all the episodes where a character resigns or comes close to resigning. So far I can only think of Measure of a Man. Maybe Insurrection too when Picard takes off his uniform and goes rambo.

I'm also curious, with Starfleet being somewhat military-like, if resigning is always allowed? I wonder if they could have rejected Data's resignation.

 

[Shazam!]

Did Crusher resign in Sub Rosa?

 

[MacLeod]

Resiging seems to be fairly easy as well, literally just turn in your badge. Must be some sort of cop thing.

 

[Melakon]

There doesn't seem to be any compulsory length of stay requirement in Starfleet from what I can tell. If you want to resign, it looks like you easily can, though it might be a few days or weeks before you're able to transfer from a ship to a civilian transport or planet.

 

[od0_ital]

Picard didn't resign from Starfleet in INS - he was still able to give Riker & the crew orders while loadin' up the yacht with weapons.

Worf did resign in 'Redemption' and threatened to do the same in DS9 'Way of the Warrior'.

Aside from Data threatenin' to resign in 'The Measure of a Man' and Sisko thinkin' about it in DS9 'Emissary', I can't think of any other time it happened.

Tom Paris leavin' the crew durin' the second season of VOY doesn't count, either, since he was still actin' under Janeway's orders.

 

[sariel2005]

Worf did resign in 'Redemption' and threatened to do the same in DS9 'Way of the Warrior'.

Aside from Data threatenin' to resign in 'The Measure of a Man' and Sisko thinkin' about it in DS9 'Emissary', I can't think of any other time it happened.

Tom Paris leavin' the crew durin' the second season of VOY doesn't count, either, since he was still actin' under Janeway's orders.

As someone said, Dr Crusher did resign in Sub Rosa, and adamantly insists she has every right to leave the ship when Picard tries to stop her.
If it counts, Wesley resigns, again by putting his badge down in "Journeys End"

 

[Timo]

We can always debate whether the resignation actually took place, or whether the characters merely indicated their wish to resign in no unclear terms - after which their superiors stalled the paperwork so that no resignation had actually taken place yet when the heroes reversed their decision.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Makarov]

Well if Worf was technically not resigned then computer records would show a starfleet officer was participating in the civil war...

Though I don't really see Picard's reasoning in how making a blockade against the romulan supplies was considered remaining neutral either.

 

[Mojochi]

I think the real question is about reinstatement. It must be pretty easy if we go by Worf's example. Clearly he had to resign if he took up on a wartime Klingon vessel. It would seem all it takes to be reinstated is for your former commanding officer to take you back

Seeing Wes back in uniform for Riker's wedding would also indicate a rather loose open door policy

 

[Tomalak]

I'm also curious, with Starfleet being somewhat military-like, if resigning is always allowed? I wonder if they could have rejected Data's resignation.

Well yeah, that was the whole point of the episode. Maddox was trying to prove that Data couldn't resign because he was merely property.

I see what you mean though. Starfleet's recruitment is quite ill-defined. We don't even know if they introduced conscription in the Dominion War. By and large, we only see Starfleet's best and brightest officers, who have chosen their careers carefully. Maybe all those redshirts scrubbing plasma manifolds on the USS Richard M. Nixon were draftees?

The nearest we get is Bones falling foul of the reserve activation clause - but by definition that suggests McCoy remained a reservist rather than resigning completely.

 

[sariel2005]

I think the real question is about reinstatement. It must be pretty easy if we go by Worf's example. Clearly he had to resign if he took up on a wartime Klingon vessel. It would seem all it takes to be reinstated is for your former commanding officer to take you back

Seeing Wes back in uniform for Riker's wedding would also indicate a rather loose open door policy

Well in TMP we learn that Spock left Starfleet to return to Vulcan and was listed as "Starfleet - Innactive". He is imediately reactivated by Kirk once he returns to Enterprise. Maybe you never REALLY leave Starfleet. the movie certainly indicates reinstatement is a simple matter of logging it.

 

[MacLeod]

I think the real question is about reinstatement. It must be pretty easy if we go by Worf's example. Clearly he had to resign if he took up on a wartime Klingon vessel. It would seem all it takes to be reinstated is for your former commanding officer to take you back

Seeing Wes back in uniform for Riker's wedding would also indicate a rather loose open door policy

Well in TMP we learn that Spock left Starfleet to return to Vulcan and was listed as "Starfleet - Innactive". He is imediately reactivated by Kirk once he returns to Enterprise. Maybe you never REALLY leave Starfleet. the movie certainly indicates reinstatement is a simple matter of logging it.

Or the little known seldom used 'Reserve activation clause'

 

[Timo]

Clearly he had to resign if he took up on a wartime Klingon vessel.

Would Starfleet even have noticed? Ships can go missing for half a year ("Contagion") without anybody getting worried in the slightest!

Klingons certainly wouldn't have bothered to ask questions.

Seeing Wes back in uniform for Riker's wedding would also indicate a rather loose open door policy

Well, he was a god at that point - he could wear just about anything he wanted. Did his old friends even realize he was there?

Well in TMP we learn that Spock left Starfleet to return to Vulcan and was listed as "Starfleet - Innactive".

So he didn't leave Starfleet after all, except for some sort of a leave of absence...

We are never given any story on him leaving in a huff and slamming doors behind him, or some scandal forcing him out, or anything like that. There's no "He's no longer in Starfleet" aspect to it in the movie.

Is there any real-world equivalent to this "inactivation/reactivation of commission" thing?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[BillJ]

McCoy also resigned in For the World is Hollow...

 

[R. Star]

Given Sisko was allowed to quit during the middle of the Dominion war to go home, mope and peel potatoes.... I'm hard pressed to find a reason anyone's resignation would be rejected.

 

[Tomalak]

Given Sisko was allowed to quit during the middle of the Dominion war to go home, mope and peel potatoes.... I'm hard pressed to find a reason anyone's resignation would be rejected.

He clearly had some kind of breakdown. Even the US military doesn't keep flogging soldiers suffering from PTSD.

There's also no suggestion he ever resigned, it was a leave of absence. He was allowed to keep a personal Runabout with him after all.

 

[R. Star]

So why is Sisko's friend dying so much more traumatic than anyone else losing a friend during any given day of that war? I wouldn't even call it a breakdown. More a sense of depression and loss of direction. Kira did say she wasn't sure he was coming back at all when he took the baseball. Resignation/leave of absence... only difference is he didn't burn a bridge.

 

[sariel2005]

So he didn't leave Starfleet after all, except for some sort of a leave of absence...

We are never given any story on him leaving in a huff and slamming doors behind him, or some scandal forcing him out, or anything like that. There's no "He's no longer in Starfleet" aspect to it in the movie.

Can remember off hand whether Spock is specifically stated to have left Starfleet, however he was "On Vulcan, apparently to stay" and had no intention of returning. Spock is certainly too methodical to have not properly resigned given that was his intention. look at how he put his affairs in order before going to Romulus.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I think the average person who resigns would have trouble being reinstated, but Starfleet celebrities get special treatment.

So, if Starfleet refused to let Worf reinstate, Picard could just be like "Okay Admiral, I understand. I owe you one after you saved me from insect parasites. Oh wait, do I have that backwards?"

Didn't Sito Jaxa try to resign in Lower Decks?

 

[R. Star]

Sito asked for a transfer if Picard wouldn't stop punishing her for what happened at the academy.