Post A Reply
my profile
|
directory
login
|
search
|
faq
|
forum home
»
Flare Sci-Fi Forums
»
Sci-Fi
»
Designs, Artwork, & Creativity
»
Federation Hopper design I'm stealing from Rick Sternbach
» Post A Reply
Post A Reply
Login Name:
Password:
Message:
HTML is enabled.
UBB Code™ is enabled.
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Reverend: [QB] [QUOTE]Originally posted by Ahkileez: [qb] Your opinion on whether the Fed would have an army seems to be based on how it would look. That's an incredible weak reason for such a decision to ever be made. The reasons why standing armies exist are the same now as they've always been. [/qb][/QUOTE]I agree, it shouldn't be about how it appears to non-aligned powers, more about what the Federation stands for. The way I see it, the Federation is a political and economic alliance unified by a common government. It's not held together through the military power nor from fear of constant exterior threats. As such Starfleet is a tough organisation to understand from our (according to Gene) un-evolved point of view. While I don't for one second we'll have solved poverty, war and prejudice by the 24th century, Gene at least hoped we would and shows what that might be like and that is the world of Star Trek, for better or worse, credible or fatally naive, it's not up to us to say "Star Trek isn't like that" because it quite clearly is....and now I've started a rant. This is why I tend to stay out of Ahkileez's threads as we so totally disagree on this point, it's not worth arguing as neither will ever convince the other. Respectfully, of course. Ok, getting back to the "Federation According to Reverend". As far as how the local security forces are organised and to what extent they are integrated into Starfleet, the canon point I draw from is a line from DS9 where some Admiral is talking to Sisko about Bajor's eventual introduction into the Federation. At one point he mentions that after they're officially in, begins the process of ABSORBING the Bajoran militia into Starfleet. Though of course, I'm sure some of you can think of equally valid interpretation; to me this implies that all Federation worlds have an indoctrinated Starfleet security force that (mostly) stays in the home system (though, I'm sure transfers and sponserships to the Academy are available.) In the case of the "older" worlds this is a no-brainer, most of the founding members had a significant role in developing Starfleet's ethos and doctrine from a purely human exploration organisation into the quasi-defence/security/exploration/R&D/engineering/diplomatic super organism it has become by the 24th century. With the newer members like Bajor, it seams as if the existing military (or inequivalent) institution is made a part of Starfleet. That includes uniform, equipment, rank structure and most essentially, doctine. Now that wouldn't mean the entire Bajoran militia (generals and all) gets shipped off to San Francisco to march in lines and learn the Federation anthem. More like it'd be a process taking years and mostly involving Starfleet instructors coming and training the Militia in the basic Starfleet protocols and equipment. Over time Militia personnel would also train the Starfleet instructor in their ways and hopefully both parties will learn something useful, maybe affecting what gets taught at the Academy later on down the line. In my mind, I like to think that the rank pins used on Voyager for the Maquis is the actual pins used by Starfleet personnel that are still in the midst of integration before they're certified and sworn in as "officially" Starfleet. So it's a gradual process where the ranks are sorted out over time, with certain individuals picked out to go to SFA for full officer training and the "culture shock" is cushioned as much as possible. This approach may explain where the rank of SF Colonel fits into things, that being the equivalent of what we'd call an army General, but on a planetary scale. Though in my mind Colonel is more of a title than an actual rank in it's own right. In terms of hierarchy it's probably on par with a RADM or VADM. I would suppose it was chosen over other old ranks like Brigadier, Major or General as it at once is both senior, but not so high up as to be above the troops. Also since there isn't a standing army, most of the other ranks become redundant and so the structure would be more streamlines. It may also be a reasonable explanation why the officers in Starfleet seam to outnumber the enlisted, that being the majority the enlisted ranks serving mostly in their home systems, on surface facilities and space stations. Starships by necessity have to have a large number of Academy graduates to fulfil the science/exploration and diplomacy mission requirements. Serving as an enlisted person on board a starship is probably seen more as a path to getting a commission rather than because Ensigns need someone to order around. I'm sure the likes of O'Brian get offered commissions (like Riker gets offered Commands) but for their own reasons, choose to decline. Ok, enough rambling, I've forgotten what I was getting at now...oh yeah. Starfleet isn't the military!...not the kind we're familiar with anyway. ;) [QUOTE]Originally posted by shikaru808: [qb] Motherfuck. I lost cool points... I submit. They're still badass though. Been reading about the British Army, and I always thought the Gurkhas were pretty cool. [/qb][/QUOTE]Gurkhas are an oddity and a bit of a relic from the old days of Empire and thieving of countries. The closest Star Trek equivalent I can think of would be the KDF exchange program. I imagine after the Dominion War, many blood oaths were sworn and with the lighting of R'uustai candles and the exchanging of baldrics I can see a great many Starfleet officers and soldiers that fought alongside the Klingons finding themselves members of a Klingon Houses. Still, not quite the same thing though. The real reason the Gurkhas still serve our country is that (so far) they're paid enough that when they retire, they're set up for life. At least that's how it's supposed to work, I think the MOD have recently been caught short changing them. I'm not sure how much of the old warrior spirit survives in them today as I have it on authority from certain WO2s that the current generation can be a bunch of lazy gobshites when they want to be. Of course that may not be accurate, WO2s often have the distressing habit of talking out of their arses. Not as bad as the Ruperts, of course, but still noticeable. Back in the days of WWII though, about the only thing that mad the Japanese (suicidal nutters that they were) think twice about going out into the jungle is if they heard a Gurkha regiment was in the area. There's an old war story about how after their British "Boss" was KIA they stripped down, got greased up and went into the jungle at night armed only with Kukris and their bare hands and slaughtered a camp full of Japanese. Not sure how much truth there is in the story, but it's supposed to have scared the shit out of Japanese. [/QB][/QUOTE]
Instant Graemlins
Instant UBB Code™
What is UBB Code™?
Options
Disable Graemlins in this post.
*** Click here to review this topic. ***
© 1999-2024 Charles Capps
Powered by UBB.classic™ 6.7.3