Star Trek Command and Control Issues

[ThePlumsofWrath]

Hi everyone, only just started posting here so please be gentle with me for now.

Why aren't there soldiers aboard most starships?

I know Enterprise tried this and I actually thought it made sense. I cannot believe that Starfleet is happy for command types to expose themselves to danger on away missions doing the sorts of things that 'SF' type soldiers would be doing week in and week out. All that command training, specialist training for bridge officers, engineering officers etc etc and they also train for what is behind enemy lines type tasks too, a bridge too far in my opinion.

Most Naval ships have a few Marines (UK) aboard for the riskier types of tasks that they are trained for anyway, why not Trek?

It doesn't make any sense.

 

[neozeks]

Well, I suppose members of the Security/Tactical department of the crew are seen as the 'soldiers', they are trained specifically to fight. As for why we see our heroes, even when they are not security personel, doing combat missions, well, it's simply a case of TV logic. You have to have your well-payed main stars up-and-front and you can't waste too much money on extras. Even BSG which aimed to be as realistic as possible had the main heroes/fighter pilots doing and leading hand-to-hand combat.

 

[C.E. Evans]

There definitely has to be some leeway for dramatic necessity in Trek since officers are usually the main characters and the ones in the center of all the action.

Now, if there was a Trek series that featured enlisted personnel as the main characters...

 

[Misfit Toy]

There's alos the whole debate about Starfleet being more of a scientific force rather than a military force...

 

[Myasishchev]

Because truly threatening situations should be handled by orbital bombardment.

 

[nx1701g]

There's alos the whole debate about Starfleet being more of a scientific force rather than a military force...

Which can be fun threads because there are always the three groups. You have the people that are staunch believers that it's a full military, the other side that believe its entirely an exploration group, and a few people that sit in the middle with it being a combined service.

Military --- Combination --- Scientific

 

[6079SmithW]

It may not be cannon, but at least one technical book I have (about the Galileo class) list these starships as having a contingent of "starfleet marines" aboard at all times. It has been implied that most of starfleet's ships in the TOS movie era, and perhaps TNG, have these marine contingents and we just never saw them. I can't think of an in-universe reason why we never saw them in the landing parties though.

 

[NIUPonyBoy]

I can't imagine why they didn't.

Granted when ST was created Gene was hopping for a more peaceful world, and "Marines" would not be very peaceful. lol

 

[Shieldsdown]

They didn't need soldiers, wasn't it obvious the Redshirts could take care of everything................................er, wait!

 

[ThePlumsofWrath]

They didn't need soldiers, wasn't it obvious the Redshirts could take care of everything................................er, wait!

 

[T'Girl]

Archer's MACO's would seem to put Kirk's red shirts to shame (except for the fight between Decker and that red shirt in "The Doomsday Machine").

In Kirk's era it would seem that it was starfleet policy that the most experienced person lead to landing parties, that was the captain. He took the most experienced scientist onboard with him, the best doctor too, then (if needed) specialists. If anyhing happen to the captain the ship returns to a starbase and simply obtains another captain and continues the ship's mission.

The red shirt are, very much, not marines. I believe the security guards are just that, guards. Their dutys on landing partys would, by observation, seem to be basic body guards. We've seen them patrol the ship, stand pretty for foreign dignitaries, arrest officers (Spock), escort prisoners, they're the only personel onboard who are alway armed. In Gene Roddenberry's universe their job (like his old one) may have been more of the police officer than the military warrior.