the things TREK shouldn't do

[PhoenixIreland]

Starfleets mission statement is to seek out life, not to protect and serve. Hence it isn't a military.

It only does the later when absolutely necessary, and seeks out all possibles that would lead to avoiding it.

It's also been suggested (or at least alluded to), on all the shows, that most officers only have basic combat training and only have to learn combat tactics once they reach the higher echelons of command.

This to me does not say "military".

Also, lots of places outside militaries have hierarchical command structures.

I think the biggest mistake was it took five series to get the MACOS. There should have been something similar in place long ago--to avoid confusion.

Yeh there was always the question if there were "starfleet marines", speculation came from Cl West in TUC.
Were those guys in black combat suits on the ground during the klingon war from this branch or just starfleet security?

 

[EliyahuQeoni]

Marcus was reffering to the historical trend, eg atomic scientists,

And using it to comment on their situation where he felt that they were pawns of Star Fleet, the military.

 

[Brolan]

the things Star Trek shouldn't do

Pick its nose

Laundry(let the maid do it)

get involved in an Asian land war

argue religion in an Irish pub(Oops! Judging by how bruised and battered it is that one was a little late.)

try to teach a pig to sing

Cross the street without looking both ways

Ah, well, that's all I've got.

You forgot - don't go up against a Sicilian when death is is on the line.

 

[Balthier the Great]

I always figured Starfleet was the Coast Guard --They do limited millitary stuff, but mostly they're explorers and Search and Rescue. Coast Guard is strictly millitary, but they don't fight the wars.

 

[Dayton3]

Starfleet has always been a military organization.

A Trek fan who was on active duty in the military once put it this way:

In the U.S. miliitary you are

1) Trained to protect and defend the United States

but

If you are ordered to you might also

2) Set up a research base in Antartica or the ocean

3) Be sent to conduct search and rescue of civilians.

4) Conduct survey and exploration missions as necessary.

In short, though you are part of a military organization, the number of nonmilitary missions you conduct are plentiful.

 

[Dayton3]

I always figured Starfleet was the Coast Guard --They do limited millitary stuff, but mostly they're explorers and Search and Rescue. Coast Guard is strictly millitary, but they don't fight the wars.

We have U.S. Coast Guard stationed in Iraq right now.

And thousands of U.S. Coast Guardsman died in various previous wars.

 

[Sci]

Eh, no very clearly it was not,
They done alot of fighting in DS9 out of nessicesity.

And militaries, what? Fight for fun rather than necessity?

The rest of the time they were explorers, they took on military roles when nessicary but were primarily an exporatory service (the whole point of star trek...ye know).

You do realize that in the past, one of the functions of the military was to explore, right? And even to conduct diplomacy in the absence of civilian diplomats?

They don't look or act like a military orgnanisation, and on screen dialoge shows they're not.

They do look and act like a military organization. They have a rank structure. They have a Uniform Code of Justice. They have courts-martial. It's right there in the name--court-martial! They are the institution that has the monopoly on using violence in order to engage in national defense. They can discharge people honorably or dishonorably. They have regulations. They have brigs. The Federation President is referred to as their "commander-in-chief."

Starfleet is rather obviously a military organization that engages in exploratory, defensive, and diplomatic missions.

 

[Triskelion]

I'm afraid I don't understand why the label matters.

Starfleet's primary purpose is exploration, I think that has been pretty well quoted. As opposed to conquering, for which Klingons and Romulans provided the contrast. I think it's fair to say all three organizations are "military", but the connotations are different.

 

[Sci]

I don't even think it's fair to say that Starfleet's primary purpose is one or the other. Exploration and defense are both its primary purposes, because the Federation cannot survive without either. In spite of what might be a distasteful last refuge of colonialism/imperialism, the Federation is essentially built on the idea that to create peace amongst its neighbors and itself, it needs to seek out new life and learn about it -- that exploration of the exterior will yield a positive and functional domestic society. And obviously, the Federation, surrounded as it is by numerous expansionist, sometimes hostile, empires (from the Romulan Star Empire to the Klingon Empire to the Cardassian Union to the Breen Confederacy to the Tholian Assembly to the Tzenkethi Coalition to the Gorn Hegemony), cannot survive without having a strong defense system. If it lacked such a system, it would be inevitably conquered.

The two functions are each mutually complimentary, not contradictory, and the Federation is dependent upon both of them. Only through exploration can peace be obtained; only through defense can peace be protected.

 

[EliyahuQeoni]

I just honestly don't understand why some people are so adverse to Star Fleet being "military." As if somehow being a military organization makes them less noble.

 

[Cyke101]

I just honestly don't understand why some people are so adverse to Star Fleet being "military." As if somehow being a military organization makes them less noble.

Y'know, with that logic, that means Roddenberry was a major ahole!

(or whatever his rank was in WWII. ba dam bam TSS!)

 

[EliyahuQeoni]

I just honestly don't understand why some people are so adverse to Star Fleet being "military." As if somehow being a military organization makes them less noble.

Y'know, with that logic, that means Roddenberry was a major ahole!

(or whatever his rank was in WWII. ba dam bam TSS!)

Hey, I'm just describing the impression I've gotten from things people have written. And just because Roddenberry served in the military doesn't mean that he didn't develop some kind of anti-military sentiment later in life. And I'm not saying he did necessarily, but its possible.

But my comment wasn't directed at him so much as fans who get very defensive whenever anyone calls Star Fleet a military organization, as if thats a bad thing. I don't understand that attitude, as I stated above. Anyone willing to explain it, or perhaps set me straight if I have the wrong impression?