Rank and promotions in Trek

[Gotham Central]

I thought of this as I read the discussion about Harry Kim in the Voyager forum. The various Trek series have a rather mixed legacy when it comes to promotions for members of their crews.

The TOS crew was probably the highest ranking, but it largely took them 30 years for many members to get many of their promotions despite their heroics. By the time of The Undiscovered Country, the lowest ranking crew member was a full Commander with four members being captains (I'm not sure if McCoy made captain by ST VI)

The TNG crew seemed to have the most well rounded careers. Even excluding the movies, during the seven year run of the series, Data is the only character to neither receive nor be offered a promotion. Everyone else rises at least one grade during the series. Both Picard and Riker are offered promotions and turn them down.

DS9 also has good legacy of promotions. Sisko, Dax, Nog, and Dr. Bashir all receive promotions during the series. As does Kira in the Bajoran Militia. I'm honestly not sure about O'Brien since his actual rank is never stated on screen. It's possible that he is the highest NCO possible in Starfleet and I believe that he stated at some point that he had no interest in receiving a commission of his own.

Voyager had a rather poor track record of promotions. The only person that actually receives a promotion is Tuvok. Tom Paris has the dubious distinction of being the only person during the course of a seris to actually receive a demotion...only to have his previous rank reinstated. There is no good reason for the lack of promotions on the show. Even if e everyone kept their same position, there was no reason not to promote them. One wonders why exactly did Tuvok get a promotion and why no one else?

Enterprise is a mess. Apparently, Hoshi and Travis stay ensigns for over a decade. In fact, does anyone on the show get promoted? Now I'm willing to concede that the United Earth Starfleet might have a radically different approach to promotions than the Federation Starfleet. It was less of a military organization and more like NASA. Thus rank may not be nearly as significant as it is in later series.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Since Enterprise had a such a short run and TATV is a flashforward its hard to compare to it to the other spinoffs in this area. At three season TOS is the only one that it can be compared to.

IIRC, I think T'pol might have been upped a grade. And in another flashforward/alternate reality episode (Twilight?) Reed, Trip and T'Pol were captains. And in flashback episodes Archer, Reed and Forrest are shown at lower ranks.

 

[Vincent Law]

Kim really should have been promoted when he became the senior operations officer anyway. Which would be sad since he was an ensign, but it is an entire department and his rank should have reflected his position.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Rank and promotions are definitely areas where Starfleet differs from today's navies, IMO. Starfleet seems to stress more importance over position rather than anything else, with promotions awarded not always on merit but with perhaps more on how it fits within a particular assignment's chain of command (or simply at the discretion of a commanding officer).

In that capacity, someone could stay at at a certain rank for many years and may only get promoted if they move on to another assignment.

In the case of Harry Kim, he might have been the only officer in the Voyager's operations department as far as we know and the position might have only warranted an ensign's billet aboard an Intrepid-class starship, who knows?

 

[Vincent Law]

Operations tends to be the largest department whether its on a ship or on a base. If Kim was literally the only officer then it would have been time for some field commissions to take place.

 

[The Wormhole]

Harry Kim not ever being promoted really is just stupid. In fact, when this issue was brought up in the final season, the excuse they gave was even stupider, Voyager being an isolated ship had no room for promotion. We had Tuvok get promoted, and Tom Paris was re-promoted after he was demoted. Not to mention losing half the crew in the pilot and other deaths over the course of the series. Even factoring the Maquis being absorbed into the crew, there should have been positions that had to be filled. Harry Kim really should have been made a Lieutenant at some point.

Of course, we can assume that once Voyager made it home, he did get promoted. After all, Janeway did. So while being a seven year ensign is pretty bad, he's better off than Travis Mayweather and Hoshi Sato, who were ten year ensigns. But, no rank advancement in a decade is one of TATV's many problems.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Operations tends to be the largest department whether its on a ship or on a base.

Don't confuse Starfleet's Operations Division (Engineering, Security, Services, etc.,) with the individual ops department (resource management, mission operations, etc.,) aboard a starship. The size of a particular ship or base's ops department could vary in size depending on the particular posting or its particular mission. Aboard the Voyager, Torres' engineering department could have dwarfed Kim's ops department by a considerable ratio for all intents and purposes.

If Kim was literally the only officer then it would have been time for some field commissions to take place.

Purely captain's discretion, IMO. If the Voyager originally launched with an ensign as the sole operations officer, Janeway may have felt no need to change things in the Voyager's chain of command. It was solely her call as captain. Another captain, however, may have promoted Kim twice by the show's seventh season...

 

[erastus25]

Harry Kim not ever being promoted really is just stupid. In fact, when this issue was brought up in the final season, the excuse they gave was even stupider, Voyager being an isolated ship had no room for promotion. We had Tuvok get promoted, and Tom Paris was re-promoted after he was demoted. Not to mention losing half the crew in the pilot and other deaths over the course of the series. Even factoring the Maquis being absorbed into the crew, there should have been positions that had to be filled. Harry Kim really should have been made a Lieutenant at some point.

I think the point was that it didn't matter if he got promoted. Kim was stuck doing the same boring job regardless of whether he was a Lt. Commander or an ensign. I think more competitions for certain positions would have made for some interesting subplots (i.e. an expanded B'Elanna vs. Carey conflict).

 

[The Wormhole]

Harry Kim not ever being promoted really is just stupid. In fact, when this issue was brought up in the final season, the excuse they gave was even stupider, Voyager being an isolated ship had no room for promotion. We had Tuvok get promoted, and Tom Paris was re-promoted after he was demoted. Not to mention losing half the crew in the pilot and other deaths over the course of the series. Even factoring the Maquis being absorbed into the crew, there should have been positions that had to be filled. Harry Kim really should have been made a Lieutenant at some point.

I think the point was that it didn't matter if he got promoted. Kim was stuck doing the same boring job regardless of whether he was a Lt. Commander or an ensign. I think more competitions for certain positions would have made for some interesting subplots (i.e. an expanded B'Elanna vs. Carey conflict).

By the same argument, Tuvok's promotion wouldn't have mattered since he was still chief of secruity and tactical officer regardless if he was a Lieutenant or Lt. Commander. Likewise, Tom Paris's demotion and subsequent re-promotion wouldn't have mattered since Ensign or Lieutenant he'd still be the helmsman.

Since they got promoted, there was no good reason why Harry wasn't.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'm honestly not sure about O'Brien since his actual rank is never stated on screen. It's possible that he is the highest NCO possible in Starfleet

In one episode, he says that his father likes to brag about him, and calls himself a Senior Chief.

Thus, Miles isn't the highest NCO possible, since there's another rank called Master Chief which is above a Senior Chief. And no, I'm not talking about Halo.

 

[The Wormhole]

^^I now have an image in my head of Halo's Master Chief fighting a Jem'Hadar. And I'm liking it.

 

[rajrajmarley]

I've always been personally irked by the show never having promoted or offered a promotion to Data. I assume that if he had taken his post as First Officer on the Enterprise he would've been promoted to full Commander but I can only dream. Entering Starfleet in 2341 and dying in 2379 gives him a 38 year career, more than a decade longer than Riker's. I suppose the argument is made that he wasn't as good an officer as Riker but the few times he took command of any ship he performed quite admirably.

 

[erastus25]

Harry Kim not ever being promoted really is just stupid. In fact, when this issue was brought up in the final season, the excuse they gave was even stupider, Voyager being an isolated ship had no room for promotion. We had Tuvok get promoted, and Tom Paris was re-promoted after he was demoted. Not to mention losing half the crew in the pilot and other deaths over the course of the series. Even factoring the Maquis being absorbed into the crew, there should have been positions that had to be filled. Harry Kim really should have been made a Lieutenant at some point.

I think the point was that it didn't matter if he got promoted. Kim was stuck doing the same boring job regardless of whether he was a Lt. Commander or an ensign. I think more competitions for certain positions would have made for some interesting subplots (i.e. an expanded B'Elanna vs. Carey conflict).

By the same argument, Tuvok's promotion wouldn't have mattered since he was still chief of secruity and tactical officer regardless if he was a Lieutenant or Lt. Commander. Likewise, Tom Paris's demotion and subsequent re-promotion wouldn't have mattered since Ensign or Lieutenant he'd still be the helmsman.

Since they got promoted, there was no good reason why Harry wasn't.

Tuvok had LC pips at the beginning of the show. Maybe he was an LC the whole time.

 

[The Wormhole]

I think the point was that it didn't matter if he got promoted. Kim was stuck doing the same boring job regardless of whether he was a Lt. Commander or an ensign. I think more competitions for certain positions would have made for some interesting subplots (i.e. an expanded B'Elanna vs. Carey conflict).

By the same argument, Tuvok's promotion wouldn't have mattered since he was still chief of secruity and tactical officer regardless if he was a Lieutenant or Lt. Commander. Likewise, Tom Paris's demotion and subsequent re-promotion wouldn't have mattered since Ensign or Lieutenant he'd still be the helmsman.

Since they got promoted, there was no good reason why Harry wasn't.

Tuvok had LC pips at the beginning of the show. Maybe he was an LC the whole time.

I believe it's the episode Revulsion from the fourth season which includes a scene where Janeway promotes Tuvok to Lt. Commander.

The whole thing with him wearing Lt Commander's pips in the first season was a mistake which wasn't corrected until late in the season.

Of course, than we have the curious case of the episode Fury, a sixth season episode which takes place in the first season through time travel. In it, Tuvok does have Lt. Commander pips on. As one nitpick site says "I have no idea how to flag this one. It is wrong, but it's also consistent."

 

[erastus25]

By the same argument, Tuvok's promotion wouldn't have mattered since he was still chief of secruity and tactical officer regardless if he was a Lieutenant or Lt. Commander. Likewise, Tom Paris's demotion and subsequent re-promotion wouldn't have mattered since Ensign or Lieutenant he'd still be the helmsman.

Since they got promoted, there was no good reason why Harry wasn't.

Tuvok had LC pips at the beginning of the show. Maybe he was an LC the whole time.

I believe it's the episode Revulsion from the fourth season which includes a scene where Janeway promotes Tuvok to Lt. Commander.

The whole thing with him wearing Lt Commander's pips in the first season was a mistake which wasn't corrected until late in the season.

Of course, than we have the curious case of the episode Fury, a sixth season episode which takes place in the first season through time travel. In it, Tuvok does have Lt. Commander pips on. As one nitpick site says "I have no idea how to flag this one. It is wrong, but it's also consistent."

I'm aware - was just trying to be funny. Hence the . Maybe I should have used a different emoticon.

 

[The Wormhole]

The winky face usually clues me into someone trying to make a joke. That or the standard smilie.

 

[erastus25]

I also considered going with or to indicate I was playing devil's advocate, albeit without a valid argument.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The whole thing with him wearing Lt Commander's pips in the first season was a mistake which wasn't corrected until late in the season.

Of course, than we have the curious case of the episode Fury, a sixth season episode which takes place in the first season through time travel. In it, Tuvok does have Lt. Commander pips on. As one nitpick site says "I have no idea how to flag this one. It is wrong, but it's also consistent."

Perhaps Tuvok was demoted from LCDR to LT after "Prime Factors"?

 

[USS Excelsior]

There should have been room in the Command structure. Once Tuvok was promoted there was an opening for Senior Grade Lieutenant which could have been filled by Tom Paris and then Harry could have been the Junior Lieutenant.

Another thing that makes it worse is that many of the Marquis never graduated from Starfleet or perhaps even entered it in the first place.

Chakotay graduated and had Command experience but I don't think Torres ever graduated, yet she gets full Lieutenant rank.

 

[The Wormhole]

Perhaps Tuvok was demoted from LCDR to LT after "Prime Factors"?

The opening credits in the entire season, indeed the entire first three seasons with the exception of Caretaker have him listed as "Lieutenant Tuvok." Clearly the intention was that he was to be a Lieutenant.

There is a similar error in the first season with Tom Paris. He wears the pips of a full Lieutenant, however when they corrected Tuvok's pips, they felt Tuvok should have clear seniority over Tom Paris, so he became a Lieutenant JG.

Chakotay graduated and had Command experience but I don't think Torres ever graduated, yet she gets full Lieutenant rank.

Actually, she was only a Lieutenant JG, and she was granted an officer's rank because she was the most experianced engineer on board.