Would Janice Rand Have Gone to the Academy?

[JonnyQuest037]

Just a quick question re: Janice Rand. For my Star Trek Timeline, in the absence of any other information, I recently decided to use Rand's stated age of 24 from the first draft script of "Miri." This gives her a birth year of 2242, which enabled me to pinpoint a possible start date for her Starfleet career. Assuming she entered Starfleet Academy at the standard age 17, she would've started in 2259 and graduated in 2263.

But would Yeomen typically have gone to the Academy, or would they be noncoms? Rand tells Tuvok in the VOY episode "Flashback" that it took her three years to make Ensign, which would seem to imply she was enlisted personnel. Am I correct in thinking that?

I'm especially interesting in hearing what any of our members with Naval experience have to say on this. Thanks in advance!

 

[Nerys Myk]

Just a quick question re: Janice Rand. For my Star Trek Timeline, in the absence of any other information, I recently decided to use Rand's stated age of 24 from the first draft script of "Miri." This gives her a birth year of 2242, which enabled me to pinpoint a possible start date for her Starfleet career. Assuming she entered Starfleet Academy at the standard age 17, she would've started in 2259 and graduated in 2263.

But would Yeomen typically have gone to the Academy, or would they be noncoms? Rand tells Tuvok in the VOY episode "Flashback" that it took her three years to make Ensign, which would seem to imply she was enlisted personnel. Am I correct in thinking that?

I'm especially interesting in hearing what any of our members with Naval experience have to say on this. Thanks in advance!

Yeoman is an enlisted rate in US Navy

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

But would Yeomen typically have gone to the Academy,

Typically no. Particularly not junior "staff yeoman", at least not for the whole four-year (full-time) period that regular commissioned officers do, though select study in particular areas of relevance at college level would probably be encouraged (ie diploma or associate degrees in administration for yeomen for instance)

or would they be noncoms?

Yes.

The equivalent commissioned officer (which Janice could be depending on whether you think Kirk is a junior commanding officer or a senior commanding officer) would be an adjutant or executive assistant.

Rand tells Tuvok in the VOY episode "Flashback" that it took her three years to make Ensign, which would seem to imply she was enlisted personnel. Am I correct in thinking that?

It's possible that she was a Cadet or Warrant Officer instead, but given the implication that she was deployed for three years before making Ensign (given that it was in comparison to Tuvok moving from Ensign to Lieutenant Junior Grade) then it seems far more likely that she was promoted to Ensign from Petty Officer or Chief Petty Officer (Indeed BTS info suggests that she wore CPO's insignia during TMP, but as this was not firmly established on screen we can only say that she wasn't an Ensign yet (Ensigns and Lieutenant JGs wear a single broken stripe previously worn only by LT-JGs in TOS)).

 

[flandry84]

Probably some sort of Starfleet ‘Explorer’ programme.
No pun intended.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

The equivalent commissioned officer (which Janice could be depending on whether you think Kirk is a junior commanding officer or a senior commanding officer) would be an adjutant or executive assistant.

Could you please expand on the distinction between junior and senior commanding officer? Is it simply a matter of how many years Kirk had under his belt as a commander?

To get specific, on my timeline I have Kirk being promoted to commander in 2262, assuming command of the destroyer the USS Saladin in 2263 (while still at the commander rank), and getting promoted to Captain and assuming command of the Enterprise in early 2265. So with that history, would he be a junior or a senior commanding officer during the 5YM of TOS (2265-2270)?

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

Could you please expand on the distinction between junior and senior commanding officer? Is it simply a matter of how many years Kirk had under his belt as a commander?

Sort of, but not directly.

To get specific, on my timeline I have Kirk being promoted to commander in 2262, assuming command of the destroyer the USS Saladin in 2263 (while still at the commander rank),

He'd be a junior commanding officer (aka "captain by title") here, a similar situation would be LCDR Chin-Riley's (temporary) posting as Captain of the Archer and LCDR Dax's command of the Defiant during the Dominion War.

and getting promoted to Captain and assuming command of the Enterprise in early 2265. So with that history, would he be a junior or a senior commanding officer during the 5YM of TOS (2265-2270)?

Senior assuming that he is actually a "captain by rank" at this point, this would also include fleet captains and potentially commodores.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Probably some sort of Starfleet ‘Explorer’ programme.

I could see this - some of them could be sort of like Starfleet's version of Parliamentary pages - try out this life and hang around the workplace before you decide if you want to even become an officer or go through further training. Most of what they need to know regarding daily duties of handing papers for signature, etc, would be the same as in a private workplace as a secretary. The space travel part would be the kind of thing anyone who heads into space would learn. Additionally, you could take elective courses that would enable you to go on landing parties and handle weapons.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

He'd be a junior commanding officer (aka "captain by title") here, a similar situation would be LCDR Chin-Riley's (temporary) posting as Captain of the Archer and LCDR Dax's command of the Defiant during the Dominion War.

Great. Thanks for the clarification!

Senior assuming that he is actually a "captain by rank" at this point...

Yes he would be. Promoted to Captain, and the Enterprise is his first command as a Captain.

 

[Racer_X]

For what it's worth, in The Making of Star Trek, page 209, it has the explanation below.

"Although the Enterprise is a military vessel, its organization is only semimilitary. The "enlisted men" category does not exist. STAR TREK goes on the assumption that every man and woman aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise is the equivalent of a qualified astronaut, therefore an officer.

Reference is occasionally made to "the crew," in which case it is a generalized statement meant to include everyone aboard the ship. A reference to "senior officers" would refer to a much smaller, specific group of the crew members."

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Yeah, I know what TMOST says about there being no enlisted personnel, but that's never borne out by the show itself.

The book also says that Kirk's Enterprise has cargo transporters, and I KNOW that's BS.

 

[Pauln6]

All the crew are qualified astronauts so there must be another training institution that skills up the non officers. Rand was a technician as well as a yeoman, whereas O'Brien started out as security but was talented at engineering and honed those skills on the job. The Academy is educating to degree level, with major and minor disciplines in engineering or science.

Probably Rand returned to the Academy for further officer and technical training later in her career.

If you ignore her cosplay in STIII, she was most likely a master chief in STIV, so she means she spent 3 years working under Sulu before she got a field promotion to Ensign. STVI was 6 years after STV? Plenty of time for her to hit her Lt jg rank. Her Lt-Commander rank in Flashback was just Tuvik misremembering as she probably finished her career there.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

All the crew are qualified astronauts so there must be another training institution that skills up the non officers.

The Starfleet Technical Services Academy on Mars appears to one of these.

Dialogue from The Drumhead would also seem to support the idea that medical technicians train in San Francisco, either at the Starfleet Medical Academy or the Starfleet Medical Center.

Rand was a technician as well as a yeoman, whereas O'Brien started out as security but was talented at engineering and honed those skills on the job.

Security is probably the most plausible 100% canon position for O'Brien that fits the limited data we have, though some form of "combat arms" wartime reservist who then went active duty as an engineer/operations technician also seems plausible.

The Academy is educating to degree level, with major and minor disciplines in engineering or science.

Agree on the former, would suggest that there are other options for courses.

Probably Rand returned to the Academy for further officer and technical training later in her career.

Particularly given that she shifted from yeoman (administration) to transporters (operations/technical) and then ended up in communications, retraining is pretty much a given, though a full degree majoring in the last is not certain.

If you ignore her cosplay in STIII, she was most likely a master chief in STIV, so she means she spent 3 years working under Sulu before she got a field promotion to Ensign.

Given that she wasn't identified as Janice Rand but rather "Woman in Cafeteria" (sp?) I general headcanon that as an example of her playing a different Rand (perhaps a more ambitious twin sister?)

She appears to have been a Chief Transporter Operator in the refit Enterprise, no higher enlisted rank was ever attested. There's also no evidence that she was field promoted rather than commissioned in the normal way, particularly as there was an assignment transfer as part of the process.

STVI was 6 years after STV? Plenty of time for her to hit her Lt jg rank.

Agreed.

Her Lt-Commander rank in Flashback was just Tuvik misremembering as she probably finished her career there.

Possibly, alternatively she did eventually make LCDR but Tuvok misremembered when.

 

[cgervasi]

But would Yeomen typically have gone to the Academy, or would they be noncoms? Rand tells Tuvok in the VOY episode "Flashback" that it took her three years to make Ensign, which would seem to imply she was enlisted personnel. Am I correct in thinking that?

I imagine she was an enlisted crewmember in TOS and went back and got her degree later while she was working at Starfleet Headquarters around the time of Star Trek IV.

 

[C.E. Evans]

It's also possible that later in her career, Rand became a mustang--a former enlisted person who was simply granted an officer's commission due to their special experience/abilities or to fill a specific post.
Mustang officers

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

If Rand was depicted as an adjutant, flag aide or executive assistant (ie the comissioned version of her yeoman's billet) then her being a mustang would be plausible.

However, she switched to Communications, which would implicitly require very different training and experience, which suggests something more formal possibly similar to the Seaman to Admiral - 21 Program or Officer Candidate School.

 

[Pauln6]

If Rand was depicted as an adjutant, flag aide or executive assistant (ie the comissioned version of her yeoman's billet) then her being a mustang would be plausible.

However, she switched to Communications, which would implicitly require very different training and experience, which suggests something more formal possibly similar to the Seaman to Admiral - 21 Program or Officer Candidate School.

She was working communications and transporters as a non-com but she may have had a decade of experience and on the job training by then. Don't forget that the Communications Bay has several technicians monitoring and filtering comms traffic for Uhura. Rand could have gained the experience for the bridge down there.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Yeah, Rand's career progression is weird no matter how you slice it.

She's a noncom Yeoman on TOS, she's a transporter chief in TMP, she's (possibly) a full Commander (assuming the woman we see cameoing in STIII is Rand), she's a Chief Petty Officer at Starfleet HQ in STIV, IIRC, and finally she's the communications officer on Sulu's Excelsior. I think she goes from a Lt. Commander in STVI to a full Commander in VOY's "Flashback," too. (Or vice versa. I forget.)

If anyone can make sense of all that, feel free.

Janice Rand

Janice Rand was a female Human Starfleet officer in the 23rd century. She began her service career in the operations division in the mid-2260s, serving aboard the USS Enterprise during its five-year mission under Captain James T. Kirk. (TOS: "The Corbomite Maneuver", "The Man Trap", "Charlie X"...

memory-alpha.fandom.com

 

[C.E. Evans]

It becomes easier if we dismiss the woman in Star Trek III as Rand--she's simply a redhead that bears a passing resemblance. Otherwise, it's not a stretch at all that Rand became an officer sometime after Star Trek IV and was moved quickly to a senior officer position. We've seen before in Trek some people skipping a grade or more in rank at the discretion of a command-level officer. Yes, it's a case of some benefitting from having friends in high places. Some may not think it's fair, but most things involving people aren't, IMO.

I imagine a similar situation would have played out for DS9's Chief Miles O'Brien, but he likely didn't want that.