The 1st Duty

[Mojochi]

I hate Wesley!....... Just kidding

Actually, I was wondering about the conflict that surrounds this term, "First Duty". The Wes Episode is all about how every SF Officers' 1st duty is to the truth

But in "Thine Own Self" Riker tells Deanna, as a command officer, his 1st duty is to the ship. Isn't that a conflict? It can't be both.

Could not these two duties occasionally stand in opposition of one another? For example, if during "The Pegasus" episode had there been several Romulan warbirds in the region with the Enterprise, instead of only one, should Picard have decloaked to expose the truth of the device, & risk getting destroyed by Romulans?

I personally doubt that. The ship & crew are more important, so in that case Picard would've had to sneak away under cloak, & try to expose Pressman by other means, which would've been less likely to succeed, given that he's an admiral,

So which do you think it is? Is their duty to the truth more or less important than their duty to the ship?

 

[SmoothieX]

Could not these two duties occasionally stand in opposition of one another? For example, if during "The Pegasus" episode had there been several Romulan warbirds in the region with the Enterprise, instead of only one, should Picard have decloaked to expose the truth of the device, & risk getting destroyed by Romulans?

I think in this sense his duty to the truth is more important than his duty to the ship. If you tell the Romulans: "Hey we just found out that a rogue element in our ranks was trying to develop a cloaking device in violation of our treaty. We will confer Starfleet Command who will report to your government about this incident."

Then they may attack your ship, but bigger picture - you've averted a war. And if they destory your ship, it looks like they are the agressors.

If you sneak out and keep the cloak a secret, their operatives will find out anyway, and you'll be caught with your pants down, and there may be war anyway.

 

[Mojochi]

Very true

So then Picard is right, & the truth is the 1st duty, & Riker is just talking out of his ass?

 

[Delta1]

Maybe the platitudes they teach cadets are different than the platitudes they teach mid-level officers? Realistically, a Starfleet officer's first duty is probably to the Federation, the Federation Constitution, or something like that.

 

[Trekker4747]

A Starfleet Officer's first duty is to platitudes!

 

[InklingStar]

"The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the plot!"

 

[Mojochi]

You'd think there'd be a list somewhere. You're primary directive, you secondary directive, your tertiary directive, your 1st duty, & 2nd duty, down to like your 47th duty, which is like pointy sideburns or something, I don't know, but something like that

 

[Turbo]

In the same episode, Riker tells Pressman that "I wasn't a hero, and neither were you! What you did was wrong, and I was wrong to support it, but I was too young and too stupid to realize it."

I think that he was still making excuses when he talked to Deanna, but came to realize that Pressman was in the wrong, and he did the right thing by telling Picard the truth.

 

[Mojochi]

Turbo said:
In the same episode, Riker tells Pressman that "I wasn't a hero, and neither were you! What you did was wrong, and I was wrong to support it, but I was too young and too stupid to realize it."

I think that he was still making excuses when he talked to Deanna, but came to realize that Pressman was in the wrong, and he did the right thing by telling Picard the truth.

Mostly, I was talking about "Thine Own Self" when Riker says to Deanna "My 1st duty is to the ship", but how Picard's idea of 1st duty (To the truth), & Riker's (To the ship) might be conflicted, in an example like the Pegasus episode or something similar

 

[McCoy]

It's probably situational.

In Wesley's case, where there were competing priorities like truth and loyalty, there was no ship. But among the priorities of that situation Picard believed truth should prevail.

In Riker's situation, he believed his duty to the ship was the highest priority.

 

[Mojochi]

McCoy said:
It's probably situational.

In Wesley's case, where there were competing priorities like truth and loyalty, there was no ship. But among the priorities of that situation Picard believed truth should prevail.

In Riker's situation, he believed his duty to the ship was the highest priority.

I thought about that too. Maybe what they should have been saying is "Principle duty" It would be less confusing or contradictory. Saying first duty just sounds so official coming from a commanding officer. Like there's a list of duties somewhere, & that's the first one

 

[Solarbaby]

The first duty is to make sure every single ship and starbase in the federation is supplied with copious amounts of ILLEGAL Romulan Ale.

 

[Ra'min]

Riker said
"I can't - as much as I care about you, my first duty is to the ship. I can not let any bridge officer serve who's not qualified - I'm sorry."

This was about letting or not deanna become a bridge officier.
My guess he referred to his first duty in this particular context (giving promotions), not in general... just a guess