Roy, that's a great point! You've put into words exactly why I haven't used "Marines/Ground Forces" in my campaign.<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Roy Cowan:
OTOH, part of the atmosphere of Trek is that the heroes take on these challenges themselves. Ground troops make sense as background flavor or supplementary forces, but they shouldn't take the spotlight -- or the responsibility -- off of the PCs anymore than treknology should.
</font>
But I still think that "Marines/Ground Forces" would be a vital part of Starfleet, and could certainly be "background flavor" for a future adventure. Just beacuse they don't take center stage in a TV show or campaign doesn't mean they don't exist.
In Trek, I don't recall having ever seen a toilet or a fleet supply ship - but I'll bet they exist...