Why do we never see Yeomans any longer?

[Sgt_G]

In modern-day US Navy, she could have enlisted for six years, coming in as an E-3 instead of E-1, and then made YN3 / E-4 by graduating A-school at / very near top of her class. My wife had enough college she enlisted as an E-3 and missed being jumped up to YN3 by one place.

By the way, medical doctors would always be officers, they'd NEVER be enlisted.

 

[thribs]

Yeah. We all know that from M*A*S*H

 

[XCV330]

Give him a Radar O'Reilly type.

I would love that. Maybe Linus could have hopped ship to Enterprise at the last moment.

 

[Timo]

Pre TOS (ENT) – wasn’t needed as the NX crews were really small.

Well, Archer basically snuck out at midnight under the pretense of giving Kaang a lift home. He left most equipment ashore, including his ship's main guns! So a bunch of clerks probably didn't have a prayer.

An operational Enterprise type ship might have had a crew of 200 with plenty of yeomen.

Pre-TOS (DSC) – Discovery is secretly a Section 31 ship. And S31 doesn’t need yeomen unless its as a cover for a mission.

The ship's visible crew consisted mainly of mad scientists. Surely a contingent of Igors would have been desperately needed as well? I can't see Stamets doing his own administrating even under the best of circumstances.

Post-TOS – because counselors on the bridge were needed more instead. And they could be compromised and involved in plots like the one in TUC.

Counselors? Very much so!

Difficult to tell whether there were yeomen in TNG, say. Picard had a lot of folks milling about, and seemed to avoid speaking to his Science Officer, like, ever, so we might have missed him speaking to his yeoman, too.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Morpheus 02]

According to the Wikipedia article on the rating of yeoman in the US Navy there are nine grades a yeoman can have:



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeoman_(United_States_Navy)

If the Starfleet ratings and rank structure was the same as the US Navy one, Yeoman Third Class Tina Lawton would be at the fourth level from the bottom of the Yeoman ladder. Thus she should have been promoted three times since she was a recruit.

Charles Evan was described as being 17 years old at least twice in the episode. And:



So if Tina is 17 or 18 we can can wonder how she already had three promotions.

I am pretty sy
Use they skipped the first 3 you mentioned. 3rd class sounds pretty basic and low to non military people.

 

[Khan Jr]

Outside the setting, the disappearing yeomen probably had something to do with early TNG's de-emphasis of Starfleet as military.

 

[Tenacity]

Outside the setting, the disappearing yeomen probably had something to do with early TNG's de-emphasis of Starfleet as military.

While at the same time routinely showing Starfleet to be a military.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Why do we not see Yeoman anymore? Because soft lighting and vasoline on lenses for close ups are no longer the norm when filming "lovely" female actors

 

[Qonundrum]

Why do we not see Yeoman anymore? Because soft lighting and vasoline on lenses for close ups are no longer the norm when filming "lovely" female actors

That didn't stop "Hollywood ugly" and other stereotypes from remaining TV tropes nonetheless.

That and they use postproduction effects. It's cheaper than to clean up the sticky mess on the lenses.

 

[The Wormhole]

Outside the setting, the disappearing yeomen probably had something to do with early TNG's de-emphasis of Starfleet as military.

The captain having a personal assistant is irrelevant to whether one is in a military setting or not.

 

[Khan Jr]

A yeoman isn't just a personal assistant and you're not going to get one from your local agency. It's a military rating with a military history.

 

[valkyrie013]

well, going to a different business, and executive, does have an executive assistant, one that answers phones, makes appointment, etc.
So lets look at what a captain's yeoman could do? Well lets see.

Serve as a go between, captain is.. captaining.. so people contact him/her/slithern to scheduale a meeting, or other things. done by computer? possible.
Its basically a command paper pusher/clerk
paperwork for promotions, transfers, etc.
Monitor, keep records for consumables (Fuel, food, etc.) what Kirk signs on most episodes, fuel consumption reports etc.
In charge of supplys, whom you request your stuff from.
Writter of speeches, prepare reports, person of knowledge on protocols, honors, ceremonies, maybe for visiting vips prepare reports on culture, etc. for the captain to read before a meeting. up to date on whatever planet there visiting.
Sort fitness reports.

So basically, someone who helps with all the paper/mundane stuff on a ship.
Could be a job that people would actually WANT to do, like Clerking for a Supreme court justice is highly sought after, so if you have a particular captain, that would be a feather on there cap if they "yeomaned" for a good captain or admiral

Also, a yeoman would make more sense for ground based or station based command, as they would be more like an executive,and need an assistant.

So, could a computer do alot of the stuff, and just present it to the captain as a "To Do" list on his padd? Maybe..
but every comannd/shop/etc. has some type of H/R paperwork side thats hardly seen, starships Has to have a paperwork side, even just crew transfers, checking reports etc.
One could even go with the captain as a "Subject Matter Expert" on an away mission, maybe to a meeting of some leadership, and there more versed on what is going on with that particular planet.
So a Yeoman has there office, pops up on the bridge to bug the captain on reports, or other important matters that he need to take care of, and they "Run" the ship in that they make sure all the mundaine paperwork is done.

 

[drt]

That and they use postproduction effects. It's cheaper than to clean up the sticky mess on the lenses.

It's even cheaper to use a soft focus filter or lens in principal photography.

 

[Tenacity]

In addition, and from the actions of Yeoman Rand, a captain's yeoman duties go beyond clerical. The yeoman fetches coffee and meals, I seem to recall Rand folding Kirk's clothing.

A ship's captain is busy, the yeoman would take care of activities that the captain doesn't need to distract himself with. Coffee, clothing, the yeoman might also be tasked with things like cleaning the captain cabin and running personal errands, so the captain doesn't have to do it himself.

 

[Takeru]

well, going to a different business, and executive, does have an executive assistant, one that answers phones, makes appointment, etc.
So lets look at what a captain's yeoman could do? Well lets see.

Serve as a go between, captain is.. captaining.. so people contact him/her/slithern to scheduale a meeting, or other things. done by computer? possible.
Its basically a command paper pusher/clerk
paperwork for promotions, transfers, etc.
Monitor, keep records for consumables (Fuel, food, etc.) what Kirk signs on most episodes, fuel consumption reports etc.
In charge of supplys, whom you request your stuff from.
Writter of speeches, prepare reports, person of knowledge on protocols, honors, ceremonies, maybe for visiting vips prepare reports on culture, etc. for the captain to read before a meeting. up to date on whatever planet there visiting.
Sort fitness reports.

So basically, someone who helps with all the paper/mundane stuff on a ship.

In other words an unnecessary position when the goal is to make an entertaining tv show. Doing paperwork isn't really something that needs to be shown.

 

[Replica Picard]

In other words an unnecessary position when the goal is to make an entertaining tv show. Doing paperwork isn't really something that needs to be shown.

Doing the paperwork, sure. But all of the interesting / comedic / insane bureaucratic little bits that revolve around being a personal assistant and doing that paperwork? There's a treasure trove of material to work with right there. Pam from The Office, David Spade's character from Just Shoot Me, just right off the top of my head, and I could definitely go on. Even TNG got a segment or two out of Riker and Troi having to do the crewperson evaluations.

And that's part of why I think we didn't see Yeomans on TNG: Riker and Data were splitting the work they'd have done on the bridge. They probably existed, being directed from assignment to assignment by Data, in the lower decks.

And the position is probably called something different in the Bajoran militia. But I do seem to recall Sisko being handed PADDs to sign off on occasionally.

 

[valkyrie013]

Like I said.. An episode showing his/her\slitherens day would be a great comedy episode.
Otherwise just show them occasionally, give pike a fuel consumption report, beam down as a helper to pike for some government meetings etc.

 

[Orphalesion]

In other words an unnecessary position when the goal is to make an entertaining tv show. Doing paperwork isn't really something that needs to be shown.

^This. The only reason we ever saw any yeomen in the original series was because Gene wanted to have another young, pretty woman in a short skirt(once the uniforms were changed) on screen. And in the pilot she was just part of that whole "sexual temptation of Pike" thing.
That doesn't need to be part of a modern show.

 

[Sgt_G]

Even TNG got a segment or two out of Riker and Troi having to do the crewperson evaluations.

Supervisors write those things personally. Way back before Adobe Acrobat and fillable forms, we had to have our admin clerk transcribe the final wording to the form.

That doesn't need to be part of a modern show.

And yet, if you flip thru the channels, you'll find show after show with the sexy co-star.

 

[Orphalesion]

And yet, if you flip thru the channels, you'll find show after show with the sexy co-star.

True, but generally they tend to have more of a function and character now then the Yeomen had.
They aren't there *just* for the sexiness anymore.

For example Number One is still being played by a young, beautiful woman in the series (quite a bit younger and more conventionally pretty than Majel was back then, if I'm not mistaken), but she's the First Officer.