If the UFP was at the top of its game it would not need to give up territory to Cardassia, that war was a tie.
Why Starfleet changes uniform styles so bloody often
- Thread starter Mr. Laser Beam
- Start date
Not if they were wrong. Not if the Cardassians were doing border strikes for an acceptable reason (old treaties, old interstellar agreements), and the Federation Council didn't want to aggravate a minor power into performing more atrocities.
The Treaties are more of a "If I give you some of these backwater planets you claim, will you stop attacking these outposts and getting yourselves killed?"
I posted a version of this over in Trek Tech, but I'll put it here too:
Class A........Class B
TNG S1........Unseen
TNG S3........TNG S1
.....................DS9 S1
.....................FC
LD.................
.....…..............PIC Flashback
PIC...............unknown
Basically Starfleet always has a colorful uniform and a black uniform. Which one we see dominant depends on what crew we are following and if Starfleet is primarily exploring or not.
Although to make things weird, this is the first time we've seen two different badge designs in concurrent use. Those wearing the FC uniforms were still wearing the badge from the TNG movies, DS9 and Voyager as opposed to the new badge design the Cerritos crew and everyone else in Starfleet seen on Lower Decks wear.
It does help jibe with the fact that the bar-backed Generations Delta is still in use (per Picard) in the mid-2380s with their new uniform design. The barebones Lower Decks Delta is experimental, part of their uniform design, and is probably dropped with the uniform
They change uniforms to confuse Q....
I watched a video on YouTube a few years ago that postulated it's for time travel. It helps temporally displaced officers quickly identify which era they've fallen into.
With the use of replicators there is no longer a reason to have everyone at every command to wear the same uniform. You no longer have to worry about the economy of scale by ordering the same type of uniform for everyone. Each command should be able to design and replicate their own working or dress uniform of the day.
The purpose of a Uniform is in it's name. It's to have a common form of dress.
In the Navy I had two working uniforms, or I could wear a set of coveralls as a third option and I had 6 different dress uniforms. I only wore the dress uniform when it was required for Liberty on a port visit. The command also had a different ball cap that could be worn, than the standard Navy uniform head covering. When we were in the Gulf of Oman, we only had to wear a white cotton T-shirt as an option with our dungarees. Chiefs and above had even more options. The command decides what you are allowed to wear as uniform of the day and gives what options are available in the XO's Plan of the Day. Each XO of the command decides what the crew is allowed to wear at work or on liberty, unless the CO objects. You would usually be given permission to wear more than one uniform. The ship's Master At Arms at sea and the Shore Patrol in port ensure the POD is being followed. The order on what uniform choices for a command to wear didn't come from the Navy, just what you are issued as approved by the Navy to wear.
I was ship's company, the air wing on the flight deck and hanger deck all wore different colored shirts. The aircraft carrier had dozens of different uniforms just in that one command.
So you basically had:
- Dress Uniform = Formal Occaisions
- 2x Work Uniforms = Office Work?
- CoverAll Uniform for Dirty Jobs?
- Work Uniform / Getup for Hot Environments?
But aren't the different colored shirts there to easily let everybody know what their role is supposed to be while on the deck?
For easy ID purposes?
I'd just turn up to my shift in the Kelvin-era uniform.
Even on Picard's ship.
Sack me.
Even on Picard's ship.
Sack me.
Six different dress uniforms for E1-E6, Chiefs and above had even more styles of dress uniforms.
I wore the dress uniforms when I was in school prior to being assigned to a ship, or when the ship I was stationed on pulled in for a non-home port visit for liberty. Mostly to let the locals the Navy was in town, not just anchored in the harbor. Shore Patrol / Beach Guard had to wear dress uniforms on duty ashore, with a white duty belt and a white armband with SP printed on the band.
In most non-home port visits I was assigned to the beach to repair the small liberty boats that ferried the crew from ship to shore. I also had 3 different types of foul weather gear I could choose from, in addition to the recruit issued pea coat. They consisted of Green pants and Green jackets with various levels of protection from the elements.
I was an Electricians Mate, I worked in a shop, in bilges of boats (small craft that were part of the command), in the engine room, reactor aux. room, or assigned temporary orders to the beach. I could be on duty, watch, General Quarters or working (maintenance-repairs). In all of those cases I would wear either dungarees or coveralls (my choice) because the command allowed it.
After I was assigned to my ship, I only wore my dress uniform for a personnel uniform inspection prior to pulling out to sea on each of my two Med. deployments. The command wanted to make sure all the enlisted personnel had an acceptable dress uniform available. I did wear my dress whites on a port call to Alexandra, Egypt, but only once on my first Med. Cruise.
Each command decided the uniforms of the day from a group of Navy approved kit. I could wear any style of approved uniform for any kind of work. When we were in our home port, you could wear your command approved uniforms while on the ship or on the pier. If you left the pier and were on the base proper, you had to wear the Base command approved uniforms of the day. For the most part it meant you had to change your command ball cap for a Dixie cup as head gear.
I was in the service when they got out of the Cracker Jack uniform in 1973 and transitioned the enlisted to a more chief style of dress uniform. The most common dress uniform was salt and peppers. Next was dress blues, winter dress blues or dress whites. Then the navy transitioned back to the Cracker Jack style of dress uniform in the early 1980's as I was getting out of the Navy. The US Navy changes their uniforms about as often as Star Fleet. Both styles of uniform (Cracker Jack and Suit) were allowed at the same time during the transition period.
Also the deployed air wing personnel wore their colored shirts all over the ship (enlisted dining facility, ships store, barber shop, medical, library, post office, etc) not just on the flight deck, hanger deck or weapons spaces; even when flight quarters were secured.
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I never understood why the male skirt uniforms in TNG had their own boots.
Why no knee highs, guys?
Why no knee highs, guys?
I was coming in as you were leaving and caught the tail end of the so-called Zumwalt era of uniforms (my boot camp division was the first in San Diego to graduate in the new jumpers in 1980.) I started with those god-awful dark utilities as a working uniform before dungarees made their comeback.
Things that I would add to your excellent posts. For my era, you had a summer and winter variant of a uniform and the uniform usage was typically seasonal (No white jumpers at Christmas in non-tropical climes, for example). The ships I served on active and reserve typically deferred to the port's uniform of the day (UotD) whenever we made port. Commuting from your off-base housing to your command in dungarees was not allowed: UotD or civvies only.
And if you look at my avatar, you might notice that we have something in common, LOL.
Same globe, I had one more stripe. I had to do six years because of the schooling. I made EM1 with a year to go to keep my options open. The economy was in the crapper when I got out and Ronny Reagan stopped unemployment benefits for those who were discharged from service. I went to University on the old Vietnam era GI-bill. If I wasn't able to get to graduation, I could always go back and I could have made Chief. That way I could keep the Zumwalt era uniforms and just have to buy khakis. If I did graduate but couldn't get I job I could go back as an O1E, and still have to buy khakis. The commuting off-base not in dungarees, that is what the coveralls were for.
. Luckily I got a job lined up before I graduated from University.I was LPO of Engineering Department's Liberty Boat Repair division on CVN 68 aka USS BOHICA, aka USS Nimitz. I would get TAD orders to the beach to work on small boats electrical systems, and an Engineman or MM in my shop would work on mechanical systems ashore; alongside the Beach Guard duty section. We had no place to change out of my dungarees, so I would throw a set of coveralls over my dungarees, grab my tool bag and leave fleet landing for my hotel at the end of my duty day. When we were in Portsmouth England for a port call, I stayed in UK barracks on the Portsmouth Naval base, I didn't have a British Navy uniform to wear, so I couldn't wear their UotD. At the time I was EM2 and the Royal Navy doesn't have that rank, so I just stayed in my dungarees from fleet landing to their barracks. I also didn't like the boot camp issued blue utility pants and shirt with the iron on red stripes, too much polyester for my liking.
Leg hairs caught up in the boot zipper would be a bitch.
Knee high socks, hun.
Or even tights.
Or even tights.
In TOS we saw several uniform options. The standard pullover/skirt, dress uniforms, two wrap around variations and coveralls. The coveralls appeared in early TNG as well. TMP also had several uniform variations. So that sort of variation wasn't uncommon in Trek, though there was less and less with each new iteration.
I must say, I think the medical uniforms in Discovery are the best medical uniforms.
