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I know there is at least one Airmen and a Marine on here, and we all have seen enough science fiction to know when phasers are more suitable for a target than photon torpedoes. What have you all seen that accurately depicts aspects of military operations in Star Trek or other Sci fi shows, or missed the mark? Here are some military things I've noticed watching TNG:
"Options" - Sometimes in difficult situations or just during Staff meetings Picard will just yell "Options" and the staff explodes into a flurry of activity. I have been impressed with Picard's use of his staff. "Options" are exactly what the staff provides a military Commander, apart from technical command and control. The Enterprise staff follows the military decision making process pretty well, defining the mission, then environment, and conducting all necessary movement, then playing different options against each other (often Data just does that himself in a matter of seconds). Then a certain number of "courses of action" are given to the Captain, who makes the command decision to follow one, or adjust the whole process.
"Engage!" - Some decisions are reserved entirely for the discretion of the Commander alone. Command authority means that some decisions can't be delegated. The Commander has total control of whatever it is...and total responsibility if it doesn't work out. I'm not a Sailor, but I understand this is especially a big deal with the Captain's chair, and we can see throughout the Star Trek universe that the "chair" is given great reverence. I can't relate as a ground person, but as a pilot I know we borrow our concept of "Pilot-in-command" from this. In an aircraft you have a crew and a series of officers, always a first officer and sometimes a second and third. But the "captain" has absolute authority of the bird. In that culture, even if a General steps on the bird, the PIC has absolute authority over it while its airborne...he just may have to deal with the chewing after landing.
Where are the enlisted? - One thing that I thought was peculiar about Star Trek is that almost everyone is an officer, at least everyone that gets screen time. You can kind of see some rank schizophrenia play out throughout the career of Chief O'Brien. First he shows up as a Lt. JG then Lt, then he is officially made a Chief later in the series, and I've read he becomes the Operations officer during DS9! I'm not a Sailor, but I've been told that Master Chief is a rather revered man on the boat (he "runs" the boat), like Sergeants' Major in the USMC and US Army and Chief Master Sergeants in USAF. Is this a naval thing I'm not getting?
"Options" - Sometimes in difficult situations or just during Staff meetings Picard will just yell "Options" and the staff explodes into a flurry of activity. I have been impressed with Picard's use of his staff. "Options" are exactly what the staff provides a military Commander, apart from technical command and control. The Enterprise staff follows the military decision making process pretty well, defining the mission, then environment, and conducting all necessary movement, then playing different options against each other (often Data just does that himself in a matter of seconds). Then a certain number of "courses of action" are given to the Captain, who makes the command decision to follow one, or adjust the whole process.
"Engage!" - Some decisions are reserved entirely for the discretion of the Commander alone. Command authority means that some decisions can't be delegated. The Commander has total control of whatever it is...and total responsibility if it doesn't work out. I'm not a Sailor, but I understand this is especially a big deal with the Captain's chair, and we can see throughout the Star Trek universe that the "chair" is given great reverence. I can't relate as a ground person, but as a pilot I know we borrow our concept of "Pilot-in-command" from this. In an aircraft you have a crew and a series of officers, always a first officer and sometimes a second and third. But the "captain" has absolute authority of the bird. In that culture, even if a General steps on the bird, the PIC has absolute authority over it while its airborne...he just may have to deal with the chewing after landing.
Where are the enlisted? - One thing that I thought was peculiar about Star Trek is that almost everyone is an officer, at least everyone that gets screen time. You can kind of see some rank schizophrenia play out throughout the career of Chief O'Brien. First he shows up as a Lt. JG then Lt, then he is officially made a Chief later in the series, and I've read he becomes the Operations officer during DS9! I'm not a Sailor, but I've been told that Master Chief is a rather revered man on the boat (he "runs" the boat), like Sergeants' Major in the USMC and US Army and Chief Master Sergeants in USAF. Is this a naval thing I'm not getting?
