Starfleet Promotions

[Doug Taylor]

I've never been in the military (though where I work we're paramilitary and have rank and a command structure). So I'm not always clear on all of the rules regarding advancement and promotion, and would love some input from any of you that are really knowledgable about such things, specifically as it relates to Starfleet.

Our crew consists of a Human Captain, his First Officer is a Klingon (so an exchange officer with the KDF) with the rank of Commander, and third in charge is a Vulcan Security Chief (also a Commander).

Is it even possible/likely to have two Commanders on the same ship? (Our ship is an Akira-class, so has a crew of around 500)

The player running the Captain expressed a desire to not have all of that responsibility; he really wasn't enjoying it and nearly dropped from the group. So he made a lower ranked character (a Lieuntenant in Security), and we're having his Captain character move on to other things.

It doesn't make sense to have the Klingon (who is not even a member of Starfleet) take over, so we're having his character return to the Klingon Empire.

The Vulcan Commander/Security Chief isn't really a good fit for a Captain for a number of reasons. Besides the fact that he's run by the GM (so sort of a secondary character), he's also not a 'people person' (low scores for interactions with others), and - though he's done Command School - he wears yellow (not red) and doesn't really aspire to being the commander of a vessel.

The player who ran the Klingon has made an Andorian Captain to take over the Captain's role.

My question is about the new First Officer. Is the Security Chief mandated to have to slot into that position? If the new Captain brought his own Commander with him, or drew one from somewhere else in Starfleet, wouldn't that be okay?

A few of my players (who have been in the military) say that you can't really skip over people. That if the Vulcan is the senior Commander on board he is next to go into that position. But on Star Trek didn't the Captain have his pick for First Officer? Could a Starfleet Captain even promote a Lieutenant Commander up to Commander and then choose him or her as First Officer?

I'd love everyone's input on this...

[Sarge]

If the new captain brings along his choice of first officer, and that officer has more time in grade than the Vulcan (that means he was promoted to commander before the Vulcan), then Commander Newguy outranks Commander Vulcan and has the authority to give him orders.

Sounds like the Vulcan would echo Spock's line, "I do not wish to command." If he's content to perform the duties he has now, let him. Does he meet the requirements for the position of first officer? Since he isn't in command branch, he might not, and that could make him ineligible for the XO slot.

[Dan Gurden]

Also not coming from a Military background I tenmd to play it fast and loose but with an eye on on-screen events.

So a New Captain may choose to retain an existing XO, but may equally seek to put a new face in to avoid the role becoming devisive to the crew. However on-screen events seem to indicate that Starfleet procedure is to retain existing XO (which we all know is about the actors rather than a rigid disciplinary proceedure, but thats the world we choose to play in).

Ranking grade doesn't seem to be an automatic rung up the promotional ladder, as Sarge said, it has clearly been established that time in service is also important. As is service department. It seems that those in the Medical department while they may hold the rank do not automatically possess command authority outside their specific roles without qualifications.

So based on your example. The ship is now without Captain and XO, and a new Captain has been assigned. The Vulcan Commander may choose to apply for the role of XO, and advise that his service on the ship makes him the logical best fit candidate... But the captain may choose another candidate and may even pick someone not currently on the crew (in which case the Vulcan Commander is likely to qualify as Second Officer).

To answer the other question I dont think that either the Captain nor XO would be an 'automatic' promotion, as this may not be to the benefit of the ship, and the CO would be assigned by Command and the XO would be at the choice of the CO from available candidates including new promotions. I do however think that the 2nd officer is an automatic promotion of the next highest ranking bridge officer.

[selek]

In the United States Navy, road to Executive Officer and then Captain is an arduous one- such promotions do not occur in a vacuum. An officers ability, temperment, and ambition are reviewed carefully at every grade, level, and assignment.

Serious lapses in temperment, judgement, or performance (or even a run of pure bad luck) at any level can guarantee that an otherwise promising officer will never be offered a ship of his own.

As a general rule, the Executive Officer is assigned by the Bureau of Personnel just like any other post. If someone is already assigned to the billet, a new Captain has little or no say in the matter- and is generally stuck with whomever they gave him.

If/when the XO is being replaced, the same rule generally applies: the Captain is stuck with whomever they send him (or her)*.
* As with any bureaucracy or large professional organization, however, if the Captain has sufficient contacts, back channel influence, or political pull, he can unofficially influence whom they send him.

This practice, of course, is contradicted by the on-screen evidence- particularly Picard's selection of Will Riker.

The implication (stated and unstated) is that Starfleet Command accepted petitions for the XO post from interested parties (i.e., Riker requested to be relieved from his then-current assignment and posted to Enterprise).

Picard then chose from the pool of available candidates.

This was undoubtedly a concession to Picard's rank and seniority, as well as the fact that he was commissioning both a new vessel and the new Federation flagship.

Riker later echoed that procedure when he promoted Elizabeth Shelby as his Exec in Best of Both Worlds- specifying that the decision would have the least impact on the smooth operation of the vessel in a time of crisis.

Battlefield promotions- such as Jellico promoting Data to Exec in Chain of Command (having sacked Riker for insubordination) are temporary arrangments which may (or may not) be ratified by Starfleet Command.

One other consideration: Star Trek has generally blurred the distinction between Staff and Line officers. A Line officer is a general officer serving in Engineering, Operations, Tactical, Security, and occasionally Science. They are called "line officers" because they are in the line of command.

A "staff officer", by contrast, serves in one of the support branches, "Medical, Supply, Administration, etc.) and is generally not eligible for command, regardless of their rank.

It is mentioned that both Crusher and Troi (both Medical department) had to undergo special bridge officer qualifications in order to be qualified as bridge officers (Officer of the Deck).

It also explains why a mere Lieutenant had the Bridge instead of Lieutenant Commander Troi in Disaster.

As regards your specific circumstance, the Vulcan would not be automagically promoted to XO.

His temperment (inability to relate well to others) and lack of desire for the post would have been well documented over his career and would (generally) disqualify him.

That's not to say it couldn't happen- but is extraordinarily unlikely unless his new captain requests it.

To recap:

Is the Security Chief mandated to have to slot into that position?

No. He is not qualified by either temperament or desire.

If the new Captain brought his own Commander with him, or drew one from somewhere else in Starfleet, wouldn't that be okay?

Perfectly acceptable- but rare unless the Captain is already someone of note or influence.

A few of my players (who have been in the military) say that you can't really skip over people.

Incorrect. Up-and-coming officers are often (regularly is too strong a word) promoted over others who are technically senior to them. A notable example was our real-life Exec: who was appointed to the billet even though he was technically junior to our Chief Engineer. (Both men were Lieutenant Commanders). This was done because the Exec was a young, spit-and-polish firebrand, while the Engineer was older, less ambitious, and nearing retirement.

Could a Starfleet Captain even promote a Lieutenant Commander up to Commander and then choose him or her as First Officer?

If the officer is otherwise qualified, the Captain is well within his rights to do so (with the approval of Starfleet Command).

Riker, Jellico, and Picard all did so.

[Pericles]

I am also in the military and as I echo what selek has said, in the US Military there is an additional caveat. Position supersedes rank. If command authority places an individual in a command position, then they are in command even if someone else is senior in rank.

As a real world example, in my Army Reserve current unit, I am the senior Command Sergeant Major out of the 20 in the group. When the group CSM, the only other individual in the command senior to me retired and they needed to replace him, by time in grade, I would have been next in line for his position. However, group headquarters is in Oklahoma and I live in Colorado. I chose not to commute that far out of pocket and another CSM, a rather junior one at that, but he happens to live closer and is willing to make the commute took the group CSM position. I now report to someone several years junior to me based on his position superseding my senior rank. I have no beef with this as the individual is quite good at what he does, can deal with the politics of a brigade command, can stand to be in the same room as our group commander, and is willing to make the commute. Those last three things I can not do, which why I prefer battalion commands regardless of commuting distance.

Another example is when Nimitz was selected to be commander in chief of the Pacific fleet in WW2. He was chosen over several dozen more senior admirals, but once selected, Nimitz in command regardless of seniority.

[Sarge]

I am also in the military and as I echo what selek has said, in the US Military there is an additional caveat. Position supersedes rank. If command authority places an individual in a command position, then they are in command even if someone else is senior in rank.

Here's another example of position superseding rank: Aircrew has authority over all passengers on the plane. When we were hauling personnel around Iraq in the C-130, we often had generals on board. Even if our crew's loadmaster was only a one-stripe airman, he had the right and the duty to tell the general to sit down and fasten his seatbelt. Obviously it's wise for the airman to be diplomatic when he addresses the general, but the authority is the loadmaster's. I heard about one incident where a general would not do as he was told, so the loadmaster drew his 9mm and ordered him to sit down. Of course there was an investigation into the incident, and the final decision was that the loadmaster was right.

[Cut]

I am also in the military and as I echo what selek has said, in the US Military there is an additional caveat. Position supersedes rank. If command authority places an individual in a command position, then they are in command even if someone else is senior in rank.

This seems to be the case in Starfleet as well: Take a look at the first season show "The Arsenal of Freedom". There Picard places Geordi, a Lt jg then, in command of the ship and he is able to order the full Lt or maybe even LtCmdr Logan, being chief engineer and therefore a line officer, back to his engine room.

I don't really care for these things in Star Trek, never having been part of any military organisation and quite happy about that. I'm not a very militaristic kind of guy and therefore like to stick with Pidard's quote in the show "Peak Performance", where he explicitly states, that Starfleet isn't a military organization. "Starfleet is not a military organization, its purpose is exploration."

I even recall having read somewhere, that Gene Roddenberry himself didn't think of his Starfleet as a military service.

Anyway, getting a bit off topic here

[Pericles]

Of course there was an investigation into the incident, and the final decision was that the loadmaster was right.

My last unit was a training battalion prepping soldiers, sailors and airmen for deployment overseas. Our training LANES typically had young E-5s and a few very skilled E-4s on the line and in charge of safety. It was not uncommon to have Majors and even Lieutenant Colonels going through our training. Our sergeants had full authority to remove anyone from the line if they were being unsafe. We rarely had problems, but our junior soldier's response to keep some uppity Major from getting too lippy was "Sir, you are confusing your rank with my authority."

[Doug Taylor]

Awesome stuff, everyone! Thanks so much for the great examples and explanations!

[The Tatterdemalion King]

I suspect the pool of available officers for a position is also limited to whoever is capable of getting there within a reasonable amount of time. A starship serving on the Klingon frontier or Romulan Neutral Zone would probably draw from two available personnel pools: local officers with experience on a nearby ship for senior positions, and people being funneled through a chain of Starbases from the Academy to each zone for enlisted crew and new officers.

That might be why a posting like the Enterprise might be so highly-regarded by the ambitious: because it moves around a lot, you get a very wide-ranging CV, giving you a leg up over other officers looking for particular assignments.

Personally, I'd also give local commanders more power to request specific skill-sets or crewmembers if they're themselves recognized as experienced in their ship's current duties, rather than just if they know the right people. The US military, currently, appears to be an extremely top-down organization. Local units don't really seem to have a lot of 'pull' when it comes to getting the resources they need. As an organization that has an extremely variable set of responsibilities, it would behoove Starfleet Command to believe their local commanders when they say they need more or better diplomats, vs. sensor specialists, et cetera.