Why no Bajoran Starfleet officers on DS9?

[Jayson1]

While I am glad we got KIra instead of Ro I got to admit I would have liked to seen a few Bajoran Starfleet officers on the show, especially in the early days when the Bajoran stuff dealing with the Occupation was a big deal on the show. Would they be seen as traitors for not coming home to fight against the Carddisians? Would they have a less favorable view on the prophets and other Bajoran customs since they grew up on other alien planets? I don't think we have ever seen really one aithest or agnostic Bajoran except Ro and you got to assume they are out there in the world.

Jason

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Probably because the road into Starfleet, whether enlisted or through SFA, is more difficult for someone who is not a Federation citizen. If Nog hadn't known Sisko, it's doubtful he would have gained admission.

 

[Jayson1]

Probably because the road into Starfleet, whether enlisted or through SFA, is more difficult for someone who is not a Federation citizen. If Nog hadn't known Sisko, it's doubtful he would have gained admission.

From what was established in the "Voyager" ep "The Good Shepard" though Celes talked about how Starfleet was kind of trying to get Bajorans to join up and the reason she made it through the Academy even though she wasn't quite up to snuff was because of sympathy. Then Picard in "Ensgin Ro" does say that their are others in the Academy when he doesn't want Ro at first.

Jason

 

[C.E. Evans]

It may be that there are only a small handful of Bajorans in Starfleet, and that they're probably are assigned elsewhere, IMO.

 

[at Quark's]

It would be a two-edged sword. On the one hand, Starfleet could hope to foster sympathy with the Bajorans by posting Bajoran Starfleet officers there.

On the other hand, there might be reasons both internal and external not to do so.

Internal: Starfleet is not happy with Starfleet officers with potentially divided loyalties (for example they seemed none too happy with Sisko's emissaryship) and so perhaps it is a policy to not post Starfleet officers from a non-member world anywhere near that world.

External: DS9 lies within a region that is still volatile, and perhaps Starfleet did not want to rattle the Cardassian cage more than they already had by moving in and perhaps they tried to do so by showing the Cardassians they were there in a neutral capacity and were not trying to woo the Bajorans into the Federation (even though behind closed doors, they were of course trying to do exactly that).

 

[Jayson1]

It would be a two-edged sword. On the one hand, Starfleet could hope to foster sympathy with the Bajorans by posting Bajoran Starfleet officers there.

On the other hand, there might be reasons both internal and external not to do so.

Internal: Starfleet is not happy with Starfleet officers with potentially divided loyalties (for example they seemed none too happy with Sisko's emissaryship) and so perhaps it is a policy to not post Starfleet officers from a non-member world anywhere near that world.

External: DS9 lies within a region that is still volatile, and perhaps Starfleet did not want to rattle the Cardassian cage more than they already had by moving in and perhaps they tried to do so by showing the Cardassians they were there in a neutral capacity and were not trying to woo the Bajorans into the Federation (even though behind closed doors, they were of course trying to do exactly that).

I understand maybe not going with a Bajoran Station Commander or even first officer but I really doubt the Cardassian would make much of a stink over some ensigns or low level officers on the station.

Jason

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I doubt the Bajoran government would hold anything against any Bajorans in Starfleet (i.e. it wouldn't blame them for not being in the resistance - although some of them probably were), but these same Bajorans might feel bad that they didn't, or weren't able to, fight for their home planet during the occupation. So it might be a twinge of guilt keeping them from volunteering for duty on DS9.

Then again, before the wormhole was discovered, DS9 was not exactly seen as a prime duty assignment, so maybe Starfleet had trouble finding ANY crew to staff it...

 

[yenny]

I can't remember their name, but in Next Generation episode Lower Decks figture 2 Bajoran Starfleet officer.

 

[kkt]

There are just very, very few of them. During the occupation it would have been hard for Bajorans to get the admissions requirements for Starfleet Academy taken care of -- hard to do your calculus homework when you're too busy starving.

 

[SpyOne]

I agree with others that there probably weren't a lot of Bajorans in Starfleet.
I mean, probably more Vulcans than Bajorans, and how many Vulcans did we see?

I doubt the Bajoran government would hold anything against any Bajorans in Starfleet (i.e. it wouldn't blame them for not being in the resistance - although some of them probably were), but these same Bajorans might feel bad that they didn't, or weren't able to, fight for their home planet during the occupation. So it might be a twinge of guilt keeping them from volunteering for duty on DS9.

I agree the government wouldn't hold a grudge, but a lot of Bajorans would.
Snd that's an issue Starfleet would rather avoid.

I can't remember their name, but in Next Generation episode Lower Decks figture 2 Bajoran Starfleet officer.

I believe you are thinking of Sito Jaxa, who was also a classmate of Wesley's.

It stands to reason that most folks who join Starfleet get posted vaguely near their home, to capitalize on their familiarity with the region and it's politics.
It also stands to reason that Starfleet might want to keep Bajoran officers away from routinely interacting with Bajoran civilians who might resent them for having fled rather than fighting.
IMO, YMMV.

 

[The Wormhole]

I always assumed it was intentional not to show any Bajoran Starfleet officers for fear of confusing the casual audience. Why does this Bajoran wear a Starfleet uniform instead of a Bajoran one sort of thing. Though, in the final season when Damar and Garak pretend Kira is their prisoner to infiltrate a Dominion shipyard, they describe Kira as the deputy intelligence officer for the sector, so they do acknowledge that Bajoran Starfleet officers are a thing.

The novels did do a Bajoran Starfleet officer assigned to the station, and IIRC they weren't exactly treated friendly by the Bajoran Militia personnel.

I mean, probably more Vulcans than Bajorans, and how many Vulcans did we see?

According to Field of Fire there were 48 Vulcan officers assigned to the station. Although throughout the series we usually saw at least one Vulcan per season. Season 1 had the Saratoga captain in Emissary, season 2 had Sakonna. In season 3 there was that guy O'Brien and Bashir were playing darts with in one episode, and Mirror Tuvok. Season 4 had the Admiral from Rules of Engagement, can't think of any from season 5 unless you count Spock in T&T-A. Season 6 there was a Vulcan admiral in Favor the Bold, and season 7 had the T'Kumbra crew and Lt. Chu'lak.

 

[Tosk]

The novels did do a Bajoran Starfleet officer assigned to the station

Starting with Ro Laren.

 

[The Wormhole]

Starting with Ro Laren.

I was actually referring to earlier than that. The Millennium trilogy from Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens from around 2000 or so (the story itself is set during the sixth season). The character in question was Arla Rees.

 

[Tosk]

Damn. Pretend I said, "Including Ro Laren."

 

[Bad Thoughts]

I'm sure that the production rationale dominated. Most of the Bajoran crewmembers we see have no more than one line. They were by and far extras, people who may or may not show up on a regular basis. Whether they were Bajoran or not or Starfleet or not was probably taken in makeup and costuming, so it was probably easier to keep people with Bajoran noses in Bajoran uniforms.

ETA: Let's not forget that at least one of those extras would be a body/stunt double for Nana Visitor, meaning that actress would always be a Bajoran militiawoman. Rene Auberjonois also had body doubles,who would also wear the militia/security uniform.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I imagine that they might have wished to expand the horizons of these Bajorans - give them a taste of the rest of the Federation-known worlds, Starfleet environment, etc. You'd wind up with more well-rounded officers in the end. Those who do wind up assigned to places like DS9 would be either due to a specialization they have (diplomacy, language, etc), or only after they'd rotated through other assignments first.

 

[TribbleFeeder]

I don’t think they needed them, they had a good amount of Bajoran security officers. Also I don’t know if Bajoran security and Bajoran SF would coexist well.

 

[tomswift2002]

I remember hearing years ago that if someone from Ontario got on with the RCMP, for their first 5 or 10 years in the force they could not be assigned to a place in their home province of Ontario until after that time. Maybe Starfleet has a similar policy.

 

[Gavin70]

I must admit to never having thought much about this when watching DS9, but perhaps an easy explanation is that there just aren't that many Bajorans in Starfleet, and those that are there joined as a way to get away from Bajor and it's issues. So perhaps they simply didn't want to be stationed there.

 

[kkt]

I remember hearing years ago that if someone from Ontario got on with the RCMP, for their first 5 or 10 years in the force they could not be assigned to a place in their home province of Ontario until after that time. Maybe Starfleet has a similar policy.

The ancient Romans did the same thing. Sign a soldier up in Gaul and send him to a legion anywhere but his home province.