Would you join Starfleet?

[FordSVT]

If you were a citizen of the Federation, would you enlist in Starfleet? My first reaction is to say yes, but space is a dangerous place and as we're constantly reminded in the various series and movies.

So would you? Would you enlist as a non-com and jump right in or would you want to go the officer route? Command? Engineering? Sciences? Tactical/security?

Everyone wants to be captain, think of something original.

I'd join. I'm an electrical engineer by profession IRL, and I've always been fascinated by Trek Tech, so the engine room is where I'd want to be. Geordi LaForge has my dream job.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Yep. I'd have some kind of science job so I could beam down to planets and look at a bug.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I wouldn't last three seconds in Starfleet. Now don't get me wrong, the sense of order would be appealing, I just wouldn't do very well at all.

I'd be much more comfortable as, say, a civilian freighter captain.

 

[Robert DeSoto]

aww HELLLL NO!

You think everyday is exciting away missions? Most of the time they spend carrying around reports for superiors like Picard in Tapestry.

Also, there's no way I'm living on a starship. How many of you people would wanna live at your workplace? With the people you work with? What if your coworkers are idiots? After a long week of busting my ass at work, I need to go back to my home, my real home, and chill out with my friends. Fuck work. I don't wanna go back to some quarters where I share with a some colleagues that I may or may not like.

Also I gotta go drinking and partying on the weekends, meet some chicks. Ten Forward looks boring as fuck. It's quiet. Nobody getting drunk and making a fool of themselves. People wear their uniforms. There's no short skirts or high heels. There's no hip hop music, no dance floor, no drunk ass 20 year old girls falling over each other and puking. They don't even serve real alcohol. What is this synthehol shit? And only the Galaxy class starships have a bar in their Ten Forward. Interpid class ships only have a galley. Defiant class ships have a couple replicators and some tables. That's depressing.

Quark's at least has gambling, so that's better. But again, no drunk ass 20 year old girls. Yes, there's Dabo girls, but I don't waste my time with girls that work at a bar. They are always friendly no matter how ugly you are or how stupid you sound. There's no game. You gotta talk to girls that aren't being paid to be nice to you. Then you know she's actually being nice to you, not just doing her job.

Yes holodecks would be cool, but I don't want to spend all my free time in some fantasy world.

And I'm a huge car nut, like Tom Paris. I drive a souped up import car. My captain is going to have to let me have my own souped up shuttlecraft like The Delta Flyer. And she's going to have to let me use it to take chicks to the clubs. Unfortunately, Janeway is probably the only Starfleet captain to allow a souped up shuttlecraft. And even if I had a souped up ship, I wouldn't know where the hottest clubs are if we are in unexplored space. Nor would I know anyone having birthday parties or doing bottle service in unexplored space.

Now aside the boredom, you should also keep in mind that the survival rate for junior officers is pretty damn low for away missions. When the ship is under attack, control panels only explode in junior officers' faces. Even if you're a senior officer, you're only safe if your ship is called Enterprise, Defiant or Voyager. All the other starships are cannon fodder during a war. And during peacetime they send ships out on exploration missions that they never come back from and no one has any idea why (USS Hera, USS Maryland)

I wouldn't mind joining Starfleet temporarily just for a couple of missions just to say I've done it, but at the end of the mission I gotta get back to Earth and party with my friends and drive around in my souped up shuttle.

 

[scout]

Probably not as I'm not someone who feels comfortable with a 'chain of command'. If I did, I'd be Ship's counsellor or working in a Star Fleet mental health facility.

 

[A beaker full of death]

So for those who would: how many of you joined the navy?

 

[Admiral Shran]

No.

I'd like to have a serious long-term relationship with a member of the opposite sex. It's clear to me that unless you're a command-level officer it's next to impossible. Of course, even then it seems to be frowned on.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ How do you figure? In Starfleet, anyone can date anyone they want. They don't ban fraternization.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Yes, and I'd be involved in either science or command. But I very nearly changed my mind after reading Robert DeSoto's warnings on the matter.

 

[Vurok]

I'd join. As my main interest is politics, I'd join on some kind of diplomatic service route, or else serve on a ship like the Enterprise writing reports on the government and socio-economic structure of alien societies we bump into.

 

[Roberta Lincoln]

Nope -- I'm not cut out for the military life. Even though the engineering section would be really great to work in.

 

[Jetfire]

Would you have to? Couldn't you just travel around on your own???

 

[Admiral Shran]

^ How do you figure? In Starfleet, anyone can date anyone they want. They don't ban fraternization.

Everytime we see two people in a relationship it's essentially a one night stand, with some serious exceptions (Sisko-Yates, O'Brien-Keiko, Worf-Dax, Paris-Torres, Trip-T'Pol). And even in those relationships, there is more discord than normal.

Sisko had a wife die because he was in Starfleet and ended up having to leave his second one. Miles' and Keiko's marriage was constantly rocky due to his service in the fleet. Worf's and Dax's marriage ended, let's just say, badly. Trip and T'Pol weren't able to have a firm relationship. The only one that lasted and was stable was Paris-Torres, and only because they were forced to live on the same ship with each other - it would have been interesting to see what happened with their marriage after Voyager's return.

Starfleet just doesn't seem to be an ideal place for married, or otherwise comitted, couples. Love across light-years doesn't sound too appealing to me.

Is this because the writers simply weren't interested in telling those types of stories, or is it because the nature of Starfleet itself prohibits it? That I don't know.

 

[YARN]

Being realistic, one should consider the odds, which in turn forces the realization that one would probably have an "average" job in Starfleet. Not everyone in the fleet is even on a ship. If you did select (or got "volunteered") for ship duty, you are, in all likelihood, not the captain. One might elect to go in for engineering or security or biosciences or whatever, but in all probability you won't be running your department. Laforge will be barking orders at you. When the ship is engage in battle, you won't be on the bridge, but below decks hoping the Captain guesses right and that the aliens are dumb enough to believe in some magical material called Corbomite.

You would be lightyears from family and friends. You would be doing the same job everyday. It would be, for the most part, drudgery. But, when things did happen, you might be the one ordered to go into the Jeffery's tube just before it explodes. You would be, after all, a drone.

No, I would not want to be an average person on a Starship. I would rather have my own personal Holodeck on Earth and a lifetime supply of Hot Pockets.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

I would join IN A HEARTBEAT. IN A FREAKING HEARTBEAT!!!!!!!
Not sure what department i would want to go into...astrometrics maybe?
But yes, yes i would join. YES! And did i mention, YES!!!!!

 

[The_Baroness]

^ How do you figure? In Starfleet, anyone can date anyone they want. They don't ban fraternization.

Everytime we see two people in a relationship it's essentially a one night stand, with some serious exceptions (Sisko-Yates, O'Brien-Keiko, Worf-Dax, Paris-Torres, Trip-T'Pol). And even in those relationships, there is more discord than normal.

Sisko had a wife die because he was in Starfleet and ended up having to leave his second one. Miles' and Keiko's marriage was constantly rocky due to his service in the fleet. Worf's and Dax's marriage ended, let's just say, badly. Trip and T'Pol weren't able to have a firm relationship. The only one that lasted and was stable was Paris-Torres, and only because they were forced to live on the same ship with each other - it would have been interesting to see what happened with their marriage after Voyager's return.

Starfleet just doesn't seem to be an ideal place for married, or otherwise comitted, couples. Love across light-years doesn't sound too appealing to me.

Is this because the writers simply weren't interested in telling those types of stories, or is it because the nature of Starfleet itself prohibits it? That I don't know.

I understand the point your making, but Sisko's leaving Cassidy was nothing to do with his being in Starfleet.
Neither was Dax's death.

 

[RegFan]

Now aside the boredom, you should also keep in mind that the survival rate for junior officers is pretty damn low for away missions. When the ship is under attack, control panels only explode in junior officers' faces. Even if you're a senior officer, you're only safe if your ship is called Enterprise, Defiant or Voyager. All the other starships are cannon fodder during a war. And during peacetime they send ships out on exploration missions that they never come back from and no one has any idea why (USS Hera, USS Maryland)

Not to mention the lack of seatbelts.

I'd never join Starfleet. I wouldn't feel comfortable with the chain of command, and Starfleet is not exactly a safe workplace (see above). I'd like to live in a familiar environment instead of always travelling from one alien planet to another.

 

[indolover]

yes. It's dangerous granted, but there is risk in all things.

My ideal job would be as Ops officer or Chief of Security. Then XO, then CO of a Sovereign-class vessel, and then as Admiral Starfleet chief-of-staff and maybe be on Jaresh Inyo's cabinet.

 

[Praxius]

If you were a citizen of the Federation, would you enlist in Starfleet? My first reaction is to say yes, but space is a dangerous place and as we're constantly reminded in the various series and movies.

So would you? Would you enlist as a non-com and jump right in or would you want to go the officer route? Command? Engineering? Sciences? Tactical/security?

Everyone wants to be captain, think of something original.

I'd join. I'm an electrical engineer by profession IRL, and I've always been fascinated by Trek Tech, so the engine room is where I'd want to be. Geordi LaForge has my dream job.

Well in the ST universe, one doesn't actually have to join Starfleet to be able to do what they really want.... you could be an artist or engineer or scientific researcher and still travel the galaxy as a specialist without having to adhere to Starfleet regulations and protocol.

If I was going to go civilian, I'd probably be an artist or design holodeck programs.

If I was in Starfleet, I'd either go for Security duty or go for specialization in alien diplomacy & cultural differences, gradually leading to command as either 1st officer or captain.

To learn about the various alien cultures out there and suspected to encounter in the future, their beliefs, traditions and way of life will greatly help in dealing with existing and new aliens to come, both in a diplomatic relations as well as tactical purposes.

Know thy ally.... know thy enemy.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

If someone took me to the 23rd or 24th century like they did with Dr. Taylor in TVH, I would apply for Starfleet ASAP. If I was born then, probably not.