Starfleet is the U.S. Coast Guard

[nightwind1]

True. Most of the Mekong brown-water riverine boats were piloted by Coast Guard coxs'n's.

And during Gulf War I (Desert Storm), Coasties were training squids how to inspect a ship for contraband (to enforce the blockades).

 

[LobsterAfternoon]

Did you mean squads or squids? I hope squids, I quite like the idea that we are using squids for security.

 

[Star Wolf]

Squid is US Military slang for a sailor.

 

[Darkwing]

Squid is US Military slang for a sailor.

Squids - Sailors
Zoomies - Air Force
Jarheads - Marines
Puddle Pirates - Coast Guard
GIs - Soldiers

 

[nightwind1]

Squid is US Military slang for a sailor.

Squids - Sailors
Zoomies - Air Force
Jarheads - Marines
Puddle Pirates - Coast Guard
GIs - Soldiers

Nah, Soldiers are Grunts or Ground Pounders.

 

[Darkwing]

Among other nicknames. It's not exclusive.

 

[Star Wolf]

Infantry, including Marines are grunts. It is Vietnam era term from the grunting done to lift their packs to walk. As the army mechanized after Vietnam to take on the Soviets in Europe again grunts lessened in usage, the packs stayed in the APC for the most part.. However it was used in the movie Aliens to describe the Colonial Marines

 

[Star Wolf]

Squid is US Military slang for a sailor.

Squids - Sailors
Zoomies - Air Force
Jarheads - Marines
Puddle Pirates - Coast Guard
GIs - Soldiers

Nah, Soldiers are Grunts or Ground Pounders.

I think "ground pounders" is a specifically USAF term towards its parent's service. Like "leg" is used by parachute school qualified soldiers to describe all others or the armored force calls dismounted soldiers "crunchies".

I think "dog face" as a term has a history three times as long as "grunts". Legend goes that as the frontier towns built up around Army forts became more secure signs went up around town stating "soldiers and dogs keep off of the grass" to keep the Black and Irish soldiers away. In the Audie Murphy Story you can hear the US 3rd Infantry Division's song about dog face soldiers. And the communities around the post entrances full of "rent to own" stores, pawn shops, strip clubs and trailer parks are still called "dog towns"

 

[Quahom1]

I have a story to tell. Believe it or not, but it is the truth. In 1986 I was stationed in Seattle, and during my off time, I pounded out a novel for Start Trek (as seemed to be the going trend, and I thought I had a winner, chuckle). After being turned down by multiple literary agents due to lack of recognition in the literary world, I took a chance. Taking a page from Gene Roddenberry's bio, I kind of broke the rules. I used my abilities as a federal law enforcement officer to track down the private phone number of the Roddenberry family. After several hours, I made the call.

A woman answered the phone and said "This is Majel, can I help you?" I identified myself as a special agent, but my reason for calling was to ask about how to present a Star Trek story for publishing, and this was personal, not official. You could have heard a pin drop lol.

Then she said "One moment please."

A man came to the phone and said "This is Gene, sir, how can I help you?"

Needless to say, he pointed out the futility of my going to him for Novel publication (I was so damn naïve), but he spent time asking me about my service and was quite the gentleman, and encouraged me to continue in my writing endeavors. He gave me a great deal of advice (common sense advice). I felt like an idiot.

Then he said to me "Do you like the Enterprise?" I said I watched it from 13 September 1966, and have watched it over and over. He asked, "What do you think of the colors?" I laughed and said (to my vanity over my service) that the pearl white hull with the red and blue stripes around the rim reminded me of the Coast Guard...

He chuckled, and then said "You are correct." "Science, aids to navigation, protecting the environment, search and rescue, law enforcement and defense...these are what it is based on." He also called us Hooligans, with a laugh.

We concluded our conversation.

I spoke with the man for over an hour, and heard it from him. The Enterprise is based on the US Coast Guard and missions.

And Starfleet security? I may have had something to do with that...sorry Doctor McCoy...

 

[Mysterion]

Squid is US Military slang for a sailor.

Squids - Sailors
Zoomies - Air Force
Jarheads - Marines
Puddle Pirates - Coast Guard
GIs - Soldiers

Nah, Soldiers are Grunts or Ground Pounders.

within the Army, Grunt or Ground-Pounder is usually refferring specifically to the Infantry. Other branches of the Army get their own names:

Treadheads - Armor
Gun bunnies or Cannon Cockers - Artillery
BB-Stackers - Ordnance
Wrench Turners - mechanics
Chairborne Rangers - admin specialties and/or any REMF*
Any medic is called "Doc" whether they hold an MD or not


(*=Rear Echelon Mother-F&cker)

 

[Nightdiamond]

I actually like what Starfleet represents in theory. It's not war-like or militaristic. It allows someone who wants to serve their "country" and still explore and pursue their interests.

The one thing I wonder about is whether Trek is in denial about what Starfleet is, and if its ideology is realistic or naive.

Picard says out and out that Starfleet "is not a military organization", it's "purpose is exploration".

So he's saying that Starfleet's first priority is exploration. And military defense is at the bottom of the list.

It kind of makes sense, especially in peaceful society that isn't fighting anyone, but on the other hand it seems naive and contradictory.

For a non-military organization it has some quirky behavior like;

-produces large amounts of weapons
-Had a high ranking officer attempt to seize control of the capital with forces with phasers.
-Negotiate treaties and economic opportunities with other powers
-Handles and controls huge amounts of currency
-Automatically assumed to be the main and first line of defense for the entire Federation

So why not just call it what it really is?

 

[The Wormhole]

Picard fancies himself an explorer instead of a soldier and therefore doesn't consider Starfleet to be a military in his personal opinion.

Though it gets even stupider in the Abramsverse. Specifically, in Trek XI Pike describes Starfleet as a "humanitarian peacekeeping force" which sounds like a military to me. Only, apparently it isn't since in STID Admiral Marcus's evil agenda was to militarize Starfleet.

 

[T'Girl]

in Trek XI Pike describes Starfleet as a "humanitarian peacekeeping force"

That's how he describes the Federation, not Starfleet.

 

[The Wormhole]

It's a sloppily written scene. Even though he says Federation it sure sounds like he's describing Starfleet. Besides, why would Pike need to tell Kirk what the Federation is? That's his nation, he should damn well be aware of it.

 

[Praetor]

Unless it's not his nation, United Earth is, and the UFP is just NATO.

*duh duh duhhhhhh*

 

[TheRoyalFamily]

When the unthinkable happened and Earth entered into an interstellar conflict, the UE Starfleet had no choice but to adopt the mission of Earths defensive space force, and brought along the separate special forces of Earths unified army (although I still believe that the MACO were not a large fighting force. We know that the Earth nations still had militaries, so the MACOs were an elite fighting unit granted to the United Earth government. A small force it always had access too.)

So basically the MACO's were X-Com.

Now headcannon.

 

[The Wormhole]

Unless it's not his nation, United Earth is, and the UFP is just NATO.

*duh duh duhhhhhh*

The Federation is often depicted as a nation. Coffins of Starfleet officers are draped with the Federation flag, not the United Earth flag. Federation worlds don't have their own militaries, Starfleet defends all the Federation worlds. And so on.

Just imagine if the scene in Trek XI were in the modern day with a US Navy captain asking a guy in his 20s born, raised, and still living in Iowa if he's ever heard of the United States.

 

[LobsterAfternoon]

To be fair, Kirk was pretty drunk and had just suffered a beating. Maybe Pike asked that question to assess how in his right mind he was.

 

[TheSubCommander]

My rationalization of Starfleet is that it's a multi-role organization, that has its roots in the military, NASA and other space agencies, and even the Corps of Discovery from the 19th Century. It basically is a military, or maybe more accurate to say it is a para-military organization, but one that has evolved to be more a police\defense force with a main focus on scientific discovery and exploration, than being focused on fighting wars. But, when war does come, it is capable of defending the Federation and its territory or its allies. I don't think it goes much deeper than that, nor does it need to.

 

[Sigokat]

The USCG now falls under DHS not DOD.

When I was stationed in Kuwait there were USCG personnel at some of the ports and all they really did was pull security. I worked with some USCG (aka Puddle Pirates) on a project and they were great people to work it. I got a certificate from them, but can't seem to find it. I'm sure I have it somewhere.