Good point. Even if it’s science and exploration, wtf do they need a thousand people for? Unless they are trying to find some place to colonize, but it’s pretty clear from watching the show they are not. A lot of those people don’t wear uniforms, so they are not part of this rank hierarchy. What are all those people doing there?
I think that people who say that Starfleet is not a military organization must just have a different definition of “military” than I do.
In addition to all of the things you mentioned, when Earth is attacked, Starfleet frequently orders ships to return and fight.
So, they’re either a police or a military, and the fact that they may face court martial for disobeying orders to fight really decides it in the direction of military for me.
That’s by my own definition of military. I was looking at the Star Trek wiki and it seems that Roddenberry was very much against Starfleet being the military. He must just have a different criteria.
I can totally see them as not a military. They are to science and diplomacy what the East India Companies were to capitalism. Sure they have a military structure and a militia role, but if anything they’re more like general purpose UN vessels. They need to be capable of military force because they’re the government’s ships, and because even beyond dealing with aggressive governments, they’re also responsible for peacekeeping missions and they’re off in unexplored places.
I think Enterprise covered it fairly well. They definitely started it more towards the science/exploratory side but quickly ran into the “1000001 ways to die horribly in space” and started jerry-rigging stuff like phasers and photon torpedoes from what was formerly mining equipment etc. Even then they did still have a command structure similar to military, which just makes sense from a practical “who’s in charge of what” perspective. They also do have a mix of civilian and more military-style ranks.
Starfleet may have an overall scientific mission/objective, but it definitely developed along the the structure of a military protectorate or coalition, though again that was likely due to a certain amount of necessity. I’m pretty sure that exploratory or trading vessels in historic times tended towards that in some regard.
Whether or not Starfleet is a military force is a pretty debated topic, you really can’t brush it off like it’s a closed case.
They have command rank and structure similar to a military. They have ships. The ships have weapons - powerful ones. Sometimes they use the weapons.
We can argue “well they don’t want to use them,” but a lot of earth militaries don’t really want to be in combat either, until they have to be.
It depends what Star Trek you are watching as well.
Defiant is very definitely a military vessel. Next Gen Enterprise has like a thousand people on it or something so it’s less clear.
Enterprise D is a small space station with big engines.
Good point. Even if it’s science and exploration, wtf do they need a thousand people for? Unless they are trying to find some place to colonize, but it’s pretty clear from watching the show they are not. A lot of those people don’t wear uniforms, so they are not part of this rank hierarchy. What are all those people doing there?
Might as well link the plot exposition on that one.
So subtle even I couldn’t miss it
I think that people who say that Starfleet is not a military organization must just have a different definition of “military” than I do.
In addition to all of the things you mentioned, when Earth is attacked, Starfleet frequently orders ships to return and fight.
So, they’re either a police or a military, and the fact that they may face court martial for disobeying orders to fight really decides it in the direction of military for me.
That’s by my own definition of military. I was looking at the Star Trek wiki and it seems that Roddenberry was very much against Starfleet being the military. He must just have a different criteria.
I can totally see them as not a military. They are to science and diplomacy what the East India Companies were to capitalism. Sure they have a military structure and a militia role, but if anything they’re more like general purpose UN vessels. They need to be capable of military force because they’re the government’s ships, and because even beyond dealing with aggressive governments, they’re also responsible for peacekeeping missions and they’re off in unexplored places.
I think Enterprise covered it fairly well. They definitely started it more towards the science/exploratory side but quickly ran into the “1000001 ways to die horribly in space” and started jerry-rigging stuff like phasers and photon torpedoes from what was formerly mining equipment etc. Even then they did still have a command structure similar to military, which just makes sense from a practical “who’s in charge of what” perspective. They also do have a mix of civilian and more military-style ranks.
Starfleet may have an overall scientific mission/objective, but it definitely developed along the the structure of a military protectorate or coalition, though again that was likely due to a certain amount of necessity. I’m pretty sure that exploratory or trading vessels in historic times tended towards that in some regard.