Starfleet Academy, take two

[Penta]

Okay, this thread should hopefully be meater than my derailed-mid-original-post thread on SFA a few pages back.
Like with all my other speculation/world-building threads, this thread has a purpose, then some assumptions I'm making before I go diving into the details. As usual, []'s indicate margin notes.

Purpose: Trying to compile and correlate and make sense of all the stuff known about SFA. Working from a post-NEM perspective of circa 2381-2383. Not incorporating the novels, though I love them.
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Broad-based Assumptions:

1. Starfleet, as basically established in my "size of a starbase?" thread, is probably around 30 million personnel. 15-20k Starships, plus Starbases and planetary facilities. It's bigger than I'd thought, maybe than I'd like, but it's a good number.

2. Most of the above 30 million are enlisted personnel, not officers. How large a proportion of the force is officers is a good question.

3. Most of the enlisted personnel (60-70% seems like a fair minimum) and most of the officers (50-60% at minimum) do not make Starfleet a career, instead leaving when their first term of service (for enlisted) or active duty service obligation (for officers) is up. This produces, for officers, a large number of Ensigns and LtJGs, a smaller number of Lts, and a drastically smaller number of Lt Cdrs and above.

4. In my canon, anyway, Starfleet, the UFP, etc. use money. There's salaries, etc. It just works better that way.

5. It's the military, dammit. Whatever Picard said in "Peak Performance" has been beaten into the ground by the Borg, and most especially the Dominion War. Whatever Captain Picard may wish it was, Starfleet is the military. Hence it probably acts like it, after being shaken up by the Dominion War.

SFA specific assumptions:

1. SFA is focused on the training of officers. There may be enlisted training, but it's doubtful to be a formal part of SFA.'

2. SFA is a 4-year undergraduate institution, much like the service academies of the United States military today (West Point, Annapolis, etc.).

3. There isn't just one SFA campus. I'd have loved there to be, but you cannot both have every Starfleet officer go through the Academy and have just one campus, not with the size SFA needs to be and the 4-year-curriculum it's stated to have. Indeed, I'm not sure you can do reasonably-sized campuses even with 150+ campuses.
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The basics of Starfleet Academy:

Starfleet Academy was founded in 2161, along with Starfleet, for "the training of officers for Starfleet duty".
Initially, Starfleet Academy existed more on paper and as an organization than as an institution - the first few years were spent training veterans of the Earth-Romulan war for duty in the new Starfleet, not in training raw civilians - that was still done by the military forces' of UFP member states.

[Basically the only way Starfleet could stand up a force as fast as they'd need to.]

Starfleet Academy's main campus, on the Presidio in San Francisco (and spilling into the old Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and across the Golden Gate Bridge into Marin County), began construction in 2165, after fights both between Federation member worlds over who would host the new Academy (won by Earth handily), and a linked fight: Where on Earth the Academy would go (won by San Francisco, but only narrowly). It was a controversial decision for a lot of reasons, not the least of which being that the proximity to Starfleet Headquarters and Starfleet Command made the Academy an attractive target. There was also the not-trivial issue of land: San Francisco doesn't have much, and so a lot of the Academy's facilities are actually in Marin County. Construction was completed in June 2169, and the first class of civilians without prior military service was accepted for the 2169-2170 Academic Year.

[Timeline taken, roughly, from the US Air Force Academy's construction timeline.]

As the Federation has grown, so has Starfleet Academy.
Here's how the numbers stack up:

In 2383, SFA San Francisco (known by various names and acronyms to staff and midshipmen alike) holds about 8,000 cadets: 1,000 in every year except Plebes (what civilian universities call Freshmen), of whom there are about 2,000. (the difference of the Plebes either washes out, resigns, or fails to advance).

[The numbers are actually pretty low, but anything larger feels too big for one campus, and it's already double the size of the service academies that are SFA's implicit model, both in canon and in this writeup.]

Branch campuses hold largely the same numbers, but nowhere near the same prestige.

The cadets are organized along military lines, officially known as the "Nth Brigade, Corps of Starfleet Midshipmen" - one Brigade per campus. San Francisco si the First Brigade. Below the Brigade are Cadet Regiments, Battalions, Companies, Platoons, and Squads - all units constituted, led and staffed by cadets.

Cadets, known formally as "Midshipmen", are screened extensively before they're even invited to take the Academy Entrance Exams: Not only do Cadets undergo evaluations of their academic records, but they also undergo intensive physical, psychological, and other tests and examinations before even being invited to take the exams. Persistent rumor holds that since the Cardassian War and the Maquis, the "pre-exams" have included background checks by Starfleet Intelligence.

The Starfleet Academy entrance exams are well-known.

They undergo routine changes every few years (and shifted emphasis entirely during the Dominion War), but there's one thing that isn't known, to cadets anyhow (or anyone outside of the Admissions Unit except for Starfleet Command and the top echelons of the Academy): The entire routine also includes plenty of pre-planned, well, mind-screws. Hidden tests are a favorite of the testing officers, and often used to decide between two equal cadets when there aren't enough slots for everyone (as is frequently the case). The rule of thumb is that from the moment you arrive for initial tests up to the moment you receive your final assignment to an Academy branch, anything and everything could be a test. It isn't uncommon for even receiving the final assignment to be a test of the prospective cadet's personality.

This is made all the worse for the cadets by the fact that the entrance exams for Starfleet Academy typically take two to three days - and even what the prospective cadets do in their assigned quarters is monitored.

[Creepy? Yes. Effective at the purpose of monitoring the prospective cadets to find out what you can find out? Yes.]

So, presume you have a prospective Cadet, from Earth. He applies to Starfleet Academy. He passes the pre-tests. He passes the entrance exams. What then?

Assignment to an Academy campus is based upon any number of factors - the largest being astrographic factors. For numerous reasons, Starfleet Academy tries to place a cadet at the nearest possible campus while still ensuring diversity - this has the unfortunate effect of giving Sol System-resident candidates a leg up getting into the elite ranks of the Brigade at San Francisco, but a "scrambling" of Plebe cadets is controversial at best.

[I had to answer the question somehow. The remainder of this document will deal with the San Francisco experience, since it's the campus virtually every major character comes out of.]

Say that you get assigned to the San Francisco campus. What then?

Well, first comes Plebe Summer.

Plebe Summer is basic training, conducted by upperclass cadets, on sterioids. From the moment they check in at the Admissions building on Induction Day, Plebes are thrown headfirst into a military atmosphere. The next 12 weeks are among the most stressful any perspective midshipman will undergo.

[Blatantly stolen from Plebe Summer at the USNA, purely because Plebe Summer's descriptions are the most enlightening of any of the US service academies' indoctrination programs on the web. The details might change between that institution and Starfleet, but I really doubt the broad outlines will.]

Plebe Summer is twelve weeks of intense physical, academic, and military training - running from wake-up at 0600 to mandatory lights out at 2145,

By the end of the twelve weeks, Plebes have seen two sets of cadet trainers, learned the rank structure of Starfleet (enlisted and officer), learned the Chain of Command, learned Starfleet structure, drill and ceremony, basic marksmanship with the phaser pistol and phaser rifle, and other core skills - including how to salute, the reasoning behind which vexes less-tradition-focused beings.

[I've never seen it specified whether Starfleet does or doesn't salute. So I figure everybody learns HOW.]

They've also been the recipients of lectures from members of the Federation Government and Starfleet Command, notable journalists, and others with insights on the Starfleet mission.

All of this is conducted amidst the blazing heat of the San Francisco summer, it should be noted.

Plebe Summer is conducted with the explicit purpose of preparing the future Midshipmen for their Academy careers - and the implicit idea that a non-trivial fraction of the plebe corps will wash out, be it on physical, academic, or other grounds. Inevitably, between 10 to 15 percent of the plebes who enter on I-Day will not make it to the reform of the Brigade at the beginning of the Academic Year.

Notable points about Plebe Summer:

A. The Plebes are sworn in as Midshipmen twice. Once, formally, on I-Day, marks their entry into service as Active Duty Midshipmen - their Starfleet Career, for bureaucratic purposes, begins on that day, including pay. They then take it a second time, at the end of Plebe Summer, this time with a greater understanding of the Oath they're taking.

B. Those upperclass cadets who're the Plebes' training cadre? Not uncommon for relationships of all sorts to develop - they're formally banned by Academy regulation, but they happen regardless, and so long as they don't threaten "good order and discipline" are accepted after Plebe Summer is over - or at least, Academy staff handle them informally. Tight bonds within plebe platoons are not uncommon, either.

C. It's not all conducted on Earth. Initial Zero-G training (Zero-G training is required of all Academy Midshipmen after the Enterprise E's experiences at the Battle of Sector 001) is conducted in Earth orbit. Extreme zero-G intolerance is now a condition disqualifying midshipmen from further attendance or commissioning, in the same manner as a physical impairment that cannot be corrected.

D. Midshipmen eat in a large common dining hall. The food is, generally, real, not replicated.
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I was going to go on to cover Plebe Year and onward, but need to sleep. Thoughts welcome - this will probably be much longer writeups than my FedGov or Starfleet Command threads.

 

[neozeks]

Huzzah! I thought about resurrecting the first thread, but it's better this way.

1. Starfleet, as basically established in my "size of a starbase?" thread, is probably around 30 million personnel. 15-20k Starships, plus Starbases and planetary facilities. It's bigger than I'd thought, maybe than I'd like, but it's a good number.

Actually, that was just my top estimate. I'd personally say it's smaller, from 4000-10000 ships. Still, it's in the same range.

2. Most of the above 30 million are enlisted personnel, not officers. How large a proportion of the force is officers is a good question.

I'd guesstimate around 20%. It may seem high but we have seen Starfleet is officer heavy. Automation has probably reduced the need for enlisted. There is a great number of scientists, much larger than in todays militaries, from all the fields of science. Sure, there will be enlisted technicians and assistants. But service in much of the science community will require extensive study and advanced degrees and thus deserve an officer commission.
In fact, the ratio in modern services isn't that far off either (I think I read somewhere it's at 5:1 in the Air Force, possibly even closer).

1. SFA is focused on the training of officers. There may be enlisted training, but it's doubtful to be a formal part of SFA.'

Yeah, I'd say it's just courses taken by the enlisted at the SFA campus. And those personnel files that gave you a headache also mention a SF Technical Services Academy on Mars, presumably for the enlisted.

2. SFA is a 4-year undergraduate institution, much like the service academies of the United States military today (West Point, Annapolis, etc.).

Which brings up an interesting question. God knows humans amongst themselves have different enough capabilities. Imagine the variety a hundred alien species would bring! One species would be able to finish a course in a year, another in half a year and in reverse. A common fixed length of studies would definitely be needed but I imagine there would have to be a lot of customizing of individual courses.

Starfleet Academy was founded in 2161, along with Starfleet, for "the training of officers for Starfleet duty".
Initially, Starfleet Academy existed more on paper and as an organization than as an institution - the first few years were spent training veterans of the Earth-Romulan war for duty in the new Starfleet, not in training raw civilians - that was still done by the military forces' of UFP member states.

[Basically the only way Starfleet could stand up a force as fast as they'd need to.]

Yeah, that's logical. Which gives me an idea. We need a thread dealing with just how Starfleet was formed from the original member state space services...

There was also the not-trivial issue of land: San Francisco doesn't have much, and so a lot of the Academy's facilities are actually in Marin County.

Given the purty pictures from http://gargonterror.com/blog/2005/08/future-home-of-starfleet-academy.html and http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/San_Francisco as well as the shot of Nero's drilling in STXI, it seems Starfleet facilities are all over the area.
Of course, we shouldn't forget one thing. Transporter technology means every part of Earth is only seconds away. SFA Earth branch facilities could be all over Earth. In fact, this is what Paris says in VOY 'Cloud':

PARIS: This is where I spent most of my second semester at the Academy.
I chose the Starfleet base outside of Marseilles for my physical training.

[The numbers are actually pretty low, but anything larger feels too big for one campus, and it's already double the size of the service academies that are SFA's implicit model, both in canon and in this writeup.]

Too big by our standards. But then, Starfleet is a lot bigger than today's militaries. And nothing prevents there being multiple (sub)campuses on Earth.

Assignment to an Academy campus is based upon any number of factors - the largest being astrographic factors. For numerous reasons, Starfleet Academy tries to place a cadet at the nearest possible campus while still ensuring diversity - this has the unfortunate effect of giving Sol System-resident candidates a leg up getting into the elite ranks of the Brigade at San Francisco, but a "scrambling" of Plebe cadets is controversial at best.

I could envision there being a sort of two separate Earth branches, one for Sol-sector candidates and one for elite candidates from all over the Federation, to prevent this.

[I've never seen it specified whether Starfleet does or doesn't salute. So I figure everybody learns HOW.]

I don't think Starfleeters salute. One, we never ever saw them do it. Two, all the different races in the UFP probably have different traditional ways of saluting. Starfleet is already too human-centric so it's best for Starfleet to adopt a sort of 'neutral' policy, just standing at attention.
And anyways, I think that in the US Navy, salutes are only given when wearing headdress, which is one other thing we never saw Starfleet use.

C. It's not all conducted on Earth. Initial Zero-G training (Zero-G training is required of all Academy Midshipmen after the Enterprise E's experiences at the Battle of Sector 001) is conducted in Earth orbit.

In fact, training could take place all over the Solar System. We already know about the Academy Flight Range at Saturn. Some of the survival training could take place on Mars, for example.

I'm interested to see what courses you envision as existing and how the various officer tracks corespond to them.

 

[Penta]

Yeah, at the moment I'm thinking of covering it year by year. Going for the general experience, not a full course listing. Currently, I'm working on Plebe Year.

Saluting comes up in the novels, though, which is why I mention it.

I'm curious as to whether people think the Academy would have such fixtures as the Cadet Honor Code, the Honor Boards, etc. that we have at the service academies - effectively Cadet-run discipline. We don't see it in the Alternate timeline, but in the Prime timeline it sounds like something that someone would almost certainly have done. Especially since, to be quite honest, the notion of the Superintendent handling all disclipline like a grade school principal never sat well with me.

Similarly, I'm wondering what people think the civilian/Starfleet mix of the faculty is, by proportion.

 

[Penta]

Plebe Year

So you make it through the entrance exams. You make it through Plebe Summer. What happens then?

Well, Plebe Year. Which, for most Plebes, is just as painful as Plebe Summer, but also includes their regular schedule of classes.

Classes at Starfleet Academy are heavy in the technical skills - so heavy that every midshipman graduates with a Bachelor of Science, regardless of major. Every cadet is required to take an extensive core curriculum, including a full engineersing sequence (in the engineering specialty of the cadet's choice).

Most of Plebe Year, though, is focused on core curriculum classes, Plebe duties, required Atheltics and other training, and whatever the upperclassmen may come up with.

The Core Curriculum

Explaining the Starfleet Academy Core Curriculum in detail would require 500 pages worth of printed text. Suffice to say that a lot was borrowed from West Point and Annapolis by the graduates of the two institutions who led the organization of Starfleet Academky, and then modified against inertia as the years progressed.

Starfleet Academy has always had a strong focus on the technical sciences - every midshipman is required to take at least one engineering sequence, for example. Your grunt security officer? May have studied hard at civil engineering or something, as a result.

Traditionally, this plus the requirements of officer training has led to something of a weakness in the core curriculum in the "humanities", It's often been mooted that the Academy might be extended to 5 years in an attempt to balance things out, but the 4-year-model has such inertia behind it as to make such a drastic change extremely difficult.

Among the more notable required courses:

The Starfleet Sciences sequence is 4 required courses including the basic Starfleet Skills sequence, 2 courses Plebe year (one each semester) that teach the basics of Starfleet regulations, the Starfleet Code of Military Justice, leadership and command, phaser marksmanship, first aid, basic systems usage, and other required skills regardless of a prospective officer's intended career track. This inevitably includes days-long "Field Training Exercises" throughout the Sol System, teaching cadets ground and space tactics.

Every cadet is required to take courses in Introductory Federation Law and Introductory Starfleet Military Justice, courses that deal with a Starfleet officer's roles and responsibilities under each system of justice.

Starfleet has traditionally had a stand-offish relationship with religion. It can't ban it, nor its practice among Starfleet members, but it isn't favored for a Starfleet member to be openly religious. However, since the experience of Captain Benjamin Sisko on Bajor and the entry of Bajor into the Federation, such attitudes have been changing, and Starfleet Academy has debated extensively the establishment of religious studies courses. None has yet been established, but Starfleet Academy does not hesistate nowadays, either in San Francisco or at its branch campuses, to at least invite noted religious thinkers in for guest lectures.

[If Starfleet were to go the usual route and go "Lalalalalala, religion is for primitives, lalalalalala!" that people think they do (or, to be blunt, would prefer they did, among some atheists), they'd never have had a hope of recruiting Bajor. Additionally, like the requirement for Zero-G training, I see this as Starfleet reacting to what we've seen on-screen. If like I do, you believe Starfleet would wise up and establish a Chaplaincy Corps to handle the spiritual problems that space and especially combat present, a religious studies option in the curriculum becomes practically mandatory for the Academy to establish at some point.]

Less militarily, every cadet is required to take a sequence of political science courses focused on interstellar relations, including as much practical training in diplomacy as it does theoretical political science learning. There are also tracks in Federation politics that are highly ecommended. Guest speakers in both courses include notables from the Federation Diplomatic Corps and the Federation Government in Paris - it is not common for the President of the UFP to address the Brigade of Midshipmen as a guest lecturer, but it is not unheard of.

[Starfleet tries, in my view, to remain apolitical, in a "domestic" sense. It tries really, really hard. But politics is such a necessary part of its work at higher levels that I don't see it being able to avoid teaching the Midshipmen about politics.]

Such guest lectures from notable figures in the civilian government, and select lectures from others, are held under strict not-for-media, not-for-recording, not-for-attribution ground rules, enforced strictly by Academy Security and the disciplinary process upon both Midshipmen and the Academy staff.

[What political junkies know of as the "Chatham House Rules". These are vital to encouraging candor in the guests' lectures in the real world where they're employed, and I don't see that changing. Why the RL service academies don't do the same thing is beyond me.]

Midshipman Athletics

Cadets are required to take part in athletics - either interscholastic, intramural, or club sports. All Midshipmen take required physical education courses over the 4 years of their attendance at the Academy, that include ongoing instruction in the Starfleet Martial Arts Program. Physical Training is mandatory each Academic Day, usually accomplished at the platoon level.

To list the entire roster of sports played at the Academy is a task for a separate document - the Academy's San Francisco campus regularly wins championships in numerous sports, and has regularly competed for the "Commander-in-Chief's Trophy" between Starfleet Academy campuses.

[It somehow seems wrong that there'd be no suitable replacement for the Army-Navy game, but there really isn't. Oh how I damn Kirk for making Starfleet a combined service at times.]

Cadet Leadership

At the Plebe year, this doesn't matter much to the Midshipman. Plebe Year, under the Cadet Leadership Program, you have one role: Learn the ropes and learn how to follow orders. Midshipmen are ranked as Cadet 4th Class in this year.

[A note on terminology that I should have covered earlier, but could never figure out how to fit into the core structure of the document. Midshipmen are referred to as that collectively. Individually, they are either "Cadet" or "Midshipman". They are ranked as Cadets - above all enlisted in pay, but not yet officers. If Starfleet salutes, they do not receive salutes from enlisted personnel. My sanity likes two genders maximum, so they are also addressed as either "Mr. <surname>" or "Ms. <surname>" by superiors. I have no idea how they'd handle four-gendered species like the Andorians in the novels so far as address goes.]

Military Training

Along with the required Starfleet Skills courses, Midshipmen undergo extensive military training during their time at Starfleet Academy - this was de-emphasized prior to the 2350s, to the extent where Capt. Jean-Luc Picard could say with a straight face and fully believe that "Starfleet is not a military". However, the Cardassian War began the long, slow process of shaking that out of Starfleet's view of itself, and the Dominion War forced a permanent "loss of innocence". Starfleet, by 2383, knows itself to be and acts like the military of the United Federation of Planets. Midshipman training reflects this. Every Midshipman receives extensive training in military subjects, from drill and ceremony to tactical matters, both on the ground and in space. Military Training has varied in importance over the years, but currently determines 45% of a midshipman's standing on the Order of Merit.

Honor Code Training

Plebes receive, from the first day of Plebe Summer, extensive training in the Cadet Honor Code and the Cadet Honor Concept, the pillars of the unique Midshipman-run system of discipline used at Starfleet Academy.

The Cadet Honor Code is incredibly strict, yet very simple. It reads: "A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do." The non-toleration clause is controversial: It has not been present in all official versions of the honor code, but was re-added formally after the events of the Nova Squadron accident of 2368, in which a cover-up was attempted by the cadets.

[I waffled in the initial post as to whether to base Starfleet Academy's cadet organization on ground (squad, platoon, company, battalion, regiment, brigade) or air (element, flight, squadron, group/wing, tactical air force) lines. I went with ground due to the fact that squad (as in Red Squad) can be read either way, and trying to figure out a designator for the entire cadet formation was simpler under the ground system. Hence, my concession to the Squadron issue is to presume that the flight squadrons possibly sit outside the cadet leadership system.]

It is interpreted by Academy precedent and tradition to apply at all times, including leaves, not merely when the Cadet is "on duty" such as in classes. A cadet may, under the honor code, be punished for any conduct which is deemed by the Cadet Honor System to fall under the code's strictures - and as the Midshipmen remain active duty members of Starfleet, Starfleet Command retains the option of prosecuting cadets in court-martials under the Starfleet Code of Military Justice, an option regularly exercised in more serious cases. All Honor Board decisions may be appealed to the Commandant of Midshipmen, whose decisions may then be appealed to the Superintendent of Starfleet Academy, and from there on to Starfleet Command. Appeals above the Commandnant of Midshipmen, however, rarely succeed.

[How Wesley Crusher and the rest of Nova Squadron were not punished by court-martials for lying to the board of inquiry is beyond me, and can only be explained by a desire on everyone's part to sweep the whole affair under the rug.]

End of Plebe Year

The end of Plebe Year has all sorts of traditions attached to it at San Francisco - from the competition between Cadet Companies to climb up a grease-slicked Axanar Obelisk to grab the box containing the Superintendent's pips and get back down and to the Superintendent (legend has it that the Cadets who do so are fated to make it to flag rank in their careers) first, a competition where typically no holds are (necessarily) barred (so long as they aren't too blatant, and nobody's injured too severely).

[This is obviously stolen from the USNA climbing of the Herndon Monument. I'm not too creative, I know.]

First Summer

A midhsipman's first summer is invariably spent on orientation tours of various divisions of Starfleet, That takes up six weeks. The other six weeks are given over to Additional Military Training, including possible specialized Starfleet training, and only limited leave.

[I need ideas on what, to be honest. IRL, this is when West Point cadets go to Ranger School (for example), or Air Force cadets tour flight bases, or Navy mids go on training cruises. However, I see training cruises as happening more in the second and third summers at Starfleet Academy.]

A Plebe stops being a Plebe with the commissioning of the outgoing Firsties (First-Class cadets, seniors) as Ensigns in Starfleet, but a Plebe does not become a "Youngster" (A second-year cadet, ranked a Cadet Third Class) until the Brigade reforms for the next Academic Year.

[I keep trying to get a good handle on when Starfleet Academy would take its summer break, but I've never lived in or near San Francisco - I'm on the East Coast of the US. Anybody with any experience of the climate, what's the worst part of the summer there?]

 

[Penta]

Youngster Year

"Youngster", or the Third-Class year of Starfleet Academy, is also referred to as the "sneaky year". It starts off seeming easier than Plebe Year (mostly because you aren't a Plebe and don't have to do Plebe Stuff), but winds up being harder. It sneaks up on you, see. It should be noted that while one officially becomes a third-class cadet upon the commissioning of the first-class cadets as Ensigns, the title "Youngster" is not granted until the third class cadet sees the dome of the Academy Admin Building upon returning from the summer.

Classes get harder. Readings get longer. There's no letup in PT or Athletics. Military Training becomes more intense. There's usually a Plebe assigned to you to lead after the Birgade returns from their summer activities, but usually discipline is the province of the second-class and first-class Midshipmen.

Youngsters make two incredibly hard choices: Immediately upon return from their summer activities, Youngsters are required to choose their major. (Switching majors is possible at SFA. It's difficult, but possible.) Then, in the Spring Semester, Youngsters are required to officially submit their top 3 choices, in order of preference, as to the branch of service they would be assigned to. There is not, necessarily, any correlation between majors and the branch of servixce, except for those midshipmen in premed, precounseling (aka Pre-psychology), or prelaw studies, where the major curriculum is heavily oriented towards the graduate school work of medical school, law school, or counseling schooling.

[I have never understood the usefulnewss of designating someone as 'command track' in the Academy, as some tend to. Command is something you grow into, IMHO, over time. There's not necessarily a command division or any position that's a prerequisite to command positions, in my view.]

Nobody is ever guaranteed to even get within their first 3 choices of service branch, but Starfleet Personnel does try to match each cadet with something at least in their three selections. However, the needs of the service come first.

Youngster year brings the start of required language study - in Plebe year everybody studies the same things, but in Youngster year the Midshipman gets to choose. However, every Midshipman must study (and achieve fluency and literacy (if applicable) in) at least one language (besides their native language, if any, and Federation Standard).

[I go with the idea that Fed Standard is another name for English. Hence, This means that every Academy cadet must be fluent and literate in at least one language besides Federation Standard. There would inevitably be a huge bias towards "modern" languages in what SFA teaches, and within that, a bias towards languages actually foreign to the UFP.]

On the other hand, Midshipmen get new privileges from Plebe Year. In Plebe year, after Plebe Summer, lights out became 2300, not 2145, but otherwise you were still a Plebe. Youngsters, though, start to actually get liberty more than over weekends, such as at night during the week (when they aren't, for example, standing watches or otherwise occupied - they usually are) and on weekends can travel in civilian clothes.

Youngster year sees the start of major courses, plus continuations of required sequences from Plebe Year.

[During the Dominion War, when classes were graduated in only 3 years instead of 4, classes ran year-round, without summer breaks (or other breaks, such as at the end of December, for example), but the old system was quickly restored at the end of the war.]

Major courses in this year, regardless of major, usually focus on Starfleet Skills: Yet more leadership classes.

Particularly high-scoring cadets on the Overall Order of Merit for each campus in this year may be designated as squad or platoon leaders for a semester, but usually this waits for the second-class year.

Summer Training for the Youngsters-becoming-Second-class Cadets can take a variety of forms.

Some are assigned to conduct Plebe Summer alongside upperclass cadets and staff as cadre, typically as platoon leaders.

Some are assigned to advanced study over the summer at civilian institutions (particularly the sciences-inclined in major and branch).

Some are assigned to summer cruises aboard starships or starbases.

[A word about Fraternization, dating, and so forth:

Okay, here's one point where SFA, and Starfleet, can deviate hugely from perspective to perspective, and it's so confusing in canon as to be insane. Hence I'm not including it in the "main document". The way I see it, while Starfleet has a general fault towards being Mildly Military at best...So much so that they practically exemplify the trope for most people...SFA is much different. In SFA, they make a severe effort to actually apply fraternization policies that maybe aren't applied in the rest of the fleet, in part because Space is Effing Lonely and Dangerous, in part because the main portion of those aboard any SFA campus are the Midshipmen, who are much more vulnerable to exploitation than the average Ensign, even.

Hence, an overview by category of how I see it.

Relationships between Staff and Cadets: Banned. No exceptions, no "overlooking" it, no getting crap past the radar. I don't see even a Mildly Military organization like SF playing softball here - the chances of exploitation are too great, and the appearance of impropriety is huge. Staff (including faculty) can end a cadet's career with a stroke of a pen (figuratively), and hence they try hard to avoid bias.

Relationships between Plebes and other cadets that aren't Plebes: They happen, especially in the close quarters and close environment of Plebe Summer between plebes and cadre. They're not supposed to happen, regs formally forbid it, but on the off-chance you can keep it low-profile and discreet, staff (which usually know about such things) will let you two lovebirds get away with it, although expect a "What the hell are you thinking" chat from your TAC officer, off the record, and ragging if it gets noticed by other cadets. If you're indiscreet, all hell may break loose.

Relationships between Plebes: Like you really have the time or privacy? You don't, normally. It's totally possible and licit for them to happen, but they're rare - Plebe Summer and Plebe Year are so busy and hellish that the conditions aren't usually right.

Relationships between non-Plebe cadets: Possible. Allowed. Within the same company, the Staffers look at it with disfavor, because it causes so many, many problems and dramas. Relationships within one's chain of command are looked at with extreme disfavor.

Relationships between non-cadets and non-staffer officers: Happen, especially if the officer just graduated and their SO is still at the Academy. It takes a lot of work for said relationships to work, because they are really long-distance relationships, but they can work. Allowed, so long as there's not a common chain of command.

Tne end rule of thumb is that outside of obvious "red lines", SFA isn't going to bother itself with cadet relationships unless they have to. If you maintain discretion, you're safe.

But discretion, being discreet, is the key. That would be much like in the Fleet - if you can maintain discretion, you're good. If you can't, well, they don't often enforce the SFCMJ articles re fraternization, but they can.]

 

[T'Girl]

I have never understood the usefulness of designating someone as 'command track' in the Academy, as some tend to. Command is something you grow into

Not everyone wants to command a starship one day, many cadets will know by the time they're halfway through the academy where it is they're headed in Starfleet. Science specialty, engineers, security and in some cases the bridge. As I understand it, in the US Naval Academy at Annapolis at the end of the third year, those cadets who will be entering the Marine Corp will declare for the Corp and receive special training. It might be similar with the various Starfleet specialties. At the end of his second year (or third) Jim Kirk may have "declared" for command.

In addition to the standard classes for the next year, command tract would receive more training in navigation, ship handling, leadership, battle tactics (space and ground), psychology, history (Kirk's degree), and management.

Security tract would emphasize again tactics, field craft, more weapons and martial arts knowledge, legal affairs (bachelors degree?), law enforcement, penology, physical requirements, medic training (see if they can keep their goat alive).

Officers heading for engineering and sciences would receive their own specialty classes. The series seems the suggest that new officers go directly into the fleet, not into a few years of post graduate school. At some point the academy studies stop being general purpose for all cadets.

----------

Starfleet has traditionally had a stand-offish relationship with religion.

All cadet would be schooled in religious tolerance, your basic diversity training.

Some time would be allocated for cadet religious observance, cadets would be encourage to keep these times brief. Providing separate facilities for all faiths would be impossible with hundreds of worlds, each with maybe a half dozen major religions, cadet would be require to share facilities from their first day. After all, a starship only has one chapel.

.

 

[Penta]

I see the possibility of various tracks, but just...viscerally dislike the idea that you can lock yourself in (or more precisely, lock yourself out of command of a starship) quite that early. I don't know about anyone else, but I had no freaking clue what I wanted to do when I was 19/20. It changed with every class, I was like a puppy with its nose to the ground. I've never gotten the impression I was unique in that regard.
---

The way I figure religious observance is handled - cadets are given time out of their personal time for religious observance. (Note that I also figure that Starfleet Academy, owing to its civilian faculty members, only does classes 5 days a week.)Starfleet Academy may or may not have a chapel, I figure if there is one it was added in the reconstruction after the Breen attack, but most cadets just head out into San Francisco and worship with civilian congregations anyway. (Branch campuses, obviously, arrangements can be different. I'm writing the San Francisco experience, because it's sort of the default. And if there's one thing I see about San Francisco even today, it's the sometimes dizzying variety of occasionally-just-plain-weirdos that make up that city. There's nothing "strange" in San Francisco (or NYC, or LA)....It's just San Francisco.

More seriously, that's one point where I see the various campuses differing in their ambience significantly, really taking on the characteristics of their surroundings.
----

I was wondering, offhand: Any comments re my notes on fraternization? It's a weird topic to touch on - everybodys loves their dramas, there's nothing to suggest rules about it in Starfleet (well, mostly), but at the same time it feels absolutely bonkers that there wouldn't be.

I mean, I'm just old enough now that some of my younger cousins are old enough where they could be attending Starfleet Academy. And I'm like "Wow, I could just see all sorts of unpleasantness that could erupt..."

 

[T'Girl]

Fraternization. In the service there is a prohibition against PDA, public displays of affection. In addition to no sexual contact with instructors, there would likewise be no activity with upper or lower classmen (classperson?). With your own class mates it might be like modern enlisted barracks life, keep it under the covers and your roommates wears stereo headphones to bed.

Had a thought about cadets going to the closest academy, Starfleet might transport you to a far away academy so as that each of the academies would possess a deliberate diversity of races, Starfleets version of "busing."

 

[Penta]

I would actually not be so strict with upper/lower classbeings, so long as they aren't in the same chain of command. That's roughly the policies used in the modern military, which unlike the mil of 50 years ago has recognized that you really want to keep couples in the service. Discipline is a lot, lot, lot less of an issue with married troops.

PDA, though, is right out - in uniform. Hence why I mentioned the important point that youngsters get to wear civvies on weekend liberty.

I'm more strict on cross-gender stuff in the dorms - nogo, no matter how accepting your roomies are. It is, to be blunt, a straight line to messy rape accusations. (For similar reasons, I suspect SFA has a "You be out or we out you" policy re homosexuality - they could care less, but the idea is to prevent issues like date rape, both accusations and worse. Hiding your status will get you beaten over the head by Academy staff, who will basically presume nefarious motives.)
---

On to less touchy stuff, barely.

"Busing" - a neat idea but could suck severely in the case of environmental issues. Whether humans or other races having issues with the local atmosphere, or gravity level, or whatever. I'm sure it'd be *considered*, I'm not so sure it would be used.

That may in fact explain best why we have a seemingly 80-percent human Starfleet: Starfleet gets most of its support in terms of personnel from, and hence sets up most of its Academy campuses on, "human" worlds. A classic free-rider problem, in some regards. (This has the purely out-of-character benefit of killing two birds with one stone.)

On that note, I should write up Second-class year.

 

[neozeks]

Classes at Starfleet Academy are heavy in the technical skills - so heavy that every midshipman graduates with a Bachelor of Science, regardless of major. Every cadet is required to take an extensive core curriculum, including a full engineersing sequence (in the engineering specialty of the cadet's choice).

Traditionally, this plus the requirements of officer training has led to something of a weakness in the core curriculum in the "humanities", It's often been mooted that the Academy might be extended to 5 years in an attempt to balance things out, but the 4-year-model has such inertia behind it as to make such a drastic change extremely difficult.

I suppose this is the case with present day service academies but I really don't think it will be the case with Starfleet given it's extensive first contact and diplomatic missions and it's mixed species nature. They'll need a ton of xenolinguistic, xenohistoric and God knows what else training.
As for the Bachelor of Science thing, who knows in what ways will the degree system change by the 24th century. It's hard enough to standardize it among humans todays, imagine what it will be like among a multitude of different species.

..."Commander-in-Chief's Trophy" between Starfleet Academy campuses.

Nice touch.

A midhsipman's first summer is invariably spent on orientation tours of various divisions of Starfleet, That takes up six weeks. The other six weeks are given over to Additional Military Training, including possible specialized Starfleet training, and only limited leave.

[I need ideas on what, to be honest. IRL, this is when West Point cadets go to Ranger School (for example), or Air Force cadets tour flight bases, or Navy mids go on training cruises. However, I see training cruises as happening more in the second and third summers at Starfleet Academy.]

Nog went to DS9 for 'field studies'. Sisko talked about his 'sophomore year field study' at some Starbase.

I see the possibility of various tracks, but just...viscerally dislike the idea that you can lock yourself in (or more precisely, lock yourself out of command of a starship) quite that early.

Who says they have to lock themselves out? They can always take additional command classes later when they choose to transfer into command. IRIC, that's what Janeway did, she mentioned the Command School or somesuch. In fact, once you reach a sufficiently high place in the chain-of-command, command training is probably mandatory.

"Busing" - a neat idea but could suck severely in the case of environmental issues. Whether humans or other races having issues with the local atmosphere, or gravity level, or whatever. I'm sure it'd be *considered*, I'm not so sure it would be used.

Species will then probably be grouped by environment, as I presume they are also on starships. Methane-breathers will mostly go to a campus on a methane-breathing planet etc.

 

[Penta]

I suppose this is the case with present day service academies but I really don't think it will be the case with Starfleet given it's extensive first contact and diplomatic missions and it's mixed species nature. They'll need a ton of xenolinguistic, xenohistoric and God knows what else training.

As for the Bachelor of Science thing, who knows in what ways will the degree system change by the 24th century. It's hard enough to standardize it among humans todays, imagine what it will be like among a multitude of different species.

Yeah, I'm just trying to keep it understandable for present-day readers, so I didn't want to explore how the entire tertiary academic system might change. That would require a thread all its own.

Nog went to DS9 for 'field studies'. Sisko talked about his 'sophomore year field study' at some Starbase.

Good catch.

I see the possibility of various tracks, but just...viscerally dislike the idea that you can lock yourself in (or more precisely, lock yourself out of command of a starship) quite that early.

Who says they have to lock themselves out? They can always take additional command classes later when they choose to transfer into command. IRIC, that's what Janeway did, she mentioned the Command School or somesuch. In fact, once you reach a sufficiently high place in the chain-of-command, command training is probably mandatory.

Yes, but I meant in the Academy context. It's like changing majors, as I see it. It should be more difficult at SFA, but it shouldn't be as impossible as was implied.

Species will then probably be grouped by environment, as I presume they are also on starships. Methane-breathers will mostly go to a campus on a methane-breathing planet etc.

Yeah. It's why Titan, for instance, is so rare - the Luna class from the Titan novels seems to be Starfleet's first try at mixing such disparate species.

 

[Penta]

Second-class Year

Well, you're halfway through.

It's not clear sailing, but the hardest years of SFA are behind you.

Thing to note: Like their 21st century counterparts, Starfleet Academy comes with an active duty service obligation. This obligation "triggers" the start of your second-class year. Leave before that point, and you have no obligation. Leave after that point, voluntarily or involuntarily, and you're obligated to serve a term as enlisted, or pay the Academy back the costs of training, at the Academy's option. (Recoupment, as it's known, is generally only used punitively by Starfleet - if someone is just "I don't want to be an officer", Starfleet makes them serve a term as enlisted - the theory being that you should have figured that out before wasting 2 years of everybody's time and taking up an appointment slot, so serving as enlisted is, at least, fair.)

[The obligation, like IRL, can vary significantly. For medical or counseling personnel, it could well require a much longer obligation than normal - not only (in absence of other evidence) do I think medical and counseling personnel go to graduate-level education (med school, for instance), but they're also likely very low density but very high demand. I also can't decide on a good "base" obligation, hence why that isn't stated.]

At second-class year, your courses are firmly upper division and in your major (meaning that switching majors is difficult at best) except for the required core curriculum courses still to take.

New courses, restricted to second and first-class cadets, also open up. Starfleet Academy does not deal in classified information, though some courses still require security screenings from Starfleet Intelligence (a continuing backlash against the Maquis).

[I was unable to determine - do the RL military academies expose cadets to classified information? If they do, SFA might. However, I still figure that classified information waits for post-Academy advanced training in most cases.]

Among them:

The Command Indoctrination Seminar provides an introduction to small-unit leadership, administration, and tactics. Primarily, this comes through leadership of a cadet unit (typically at the platoon or company level for second-class cadets, though cadets who are particularly well-placed on the Overall Order of Merit may be placed in battalion, regimental, or brigade posts, with the concurrence of the Superintendent, and the Commandant of Midshipmen.), though it also comes through in-class activities, papers, presentations, and simulations, plus roleplaying with other cadets. Admission to this class requires the permission of your Company Officer and the instructor.

[This course covers leadership at the level of about department heads - command of an entire starship gets dealt with at a post-graduate course separate from the Academy.]

Advanced Starship Tactics - From fighters to the largest starships in the Starfleet inventory, this course explores starship tactics in detail. Cadets must have earned acceptable grades in Introduction to Starship Tactics, must successfully complete security screenings by Starfleet Intelligence, and must receive the permission of the instructor to enroll. May not be taken concurrently with Command Indoctrination Seminar except with the permission of Company Officer and both instructors.

[Both are meant to be very demanding courses. Doing them both at once is, for 95% of cadets, trying to do too much.]

Advanced Diploamcy - Every Academy cadet takes courses in basic diplomacy as part of the core curriculum. For cadets interested in a career at Starfleet Headquarters, this course covers advanced diplomatic topics, including high-level politcal military strategy. Includes field trips to Federation Diplomatic Corps headquarters in Paris for briefings by the Secretary of the Exterior and staff. Requires permission of the instructor to enroll.

Advanced Ground Tactics - taken concurrently with Advanced Starship Tactics. Introductory Small Unit Tactics taken by all cadets covers operations at the squad and platoon levels of ground warfare. This course covers operations and leadership of formations at company level and above. Same requirements as AST, though acceptable grades must have been earned in Introduction to Ground Tactics.

[Definitely a course added due to the experiences of the Dominion War.]

Shuttlecraft Operations - A one-semester course leading to basic piloting certification, enabling the solo operation of a shuttlecraft.

Atmospheric piloting - a one-semester course in atmsopheric piloting, popular with those interested in flying fighters. Requires completion of Shuttlecraft Operations course.

[You can probably think up any number of courses, but these seem among the "can't-miss" courses.]

---

By this point, also, cadets must have basic knowledge of at least one foreign language (besides their native one and Federation Standard, if applicable). Full fluency and literacy is tested before graduation, a requirement for commissioning. It's perfectly possible for a dedicated cadet, particularly with natural aptitude, to have fluency and literacy in two or three foreign languages by graduation using 24th Century technologies. More than three, though, is probably pushing it.

It should be noted that Starfleet Academy, in 2381-2383, is not all that amenable to "study abroad" experiences - the core curriculum and Starfleet-specific training in many cases requires one to at least be on Federation territory, usually on Starfleet installations. (It also tends to occupy your whole day.) Also, there are precious few cultural exchanges willing to accept active-duty Starfleet members, especially SFA cadets - it looks to foreign governments (even the Klingons, for example) too much like espionage under another name, despite Federation protests to the contrary. That said, Starfleet makes for that by bringing in numerous guest lecturers and visitng instructors, and it's always possible to apply for a "one to one" transfer between branch campuses, though semester opportunities (rather than permanent transfers) open up rarely...And when you're studying at San Francisco, the number of people wanting in vs the number of people wanting out is horribly imbalanced. You're at the elite branch of SFA, and most people there wouldn't give up their slot if there was a phaser to their head.

---

This year is one where the atmosphere changes, for second-class cadets. You're responsible, whether you hold a leadership slot or not (and you usually do - if you don't have squad leadership responsibilities at the least, something is very wrong). for the discipline and guidance of the plebes and the youngsters, alongside the first-class cadets. This takes time. It's hard. It comes on top of all your other responsibilities - classes, athletics, PT, and everything else. Suffice to say, it's never been easy, but it's only gotten harder since the Dominion War. The officers advising your company and higher units are more demanding then they ever were, before the war scarred Starfleet.

[I figure that Starfleet, in the early stages of the Dominion War, had to be shaken - violently - from its slumber and complacency (exemplified by "Peak Performance" in TNG). There doesn't seem to be much against the idea that Starfleet training initially wasn't enough against the Dominion, and that things had to change, and change fast, in the training base. That would scar a lot of officers, whom one would guess are likely veterans of the conflict.]

It's not really possible to "coast" through your first two years at SFA, but anybody who somehow managed it tends to get thrown off their routine by their second-class year.

There are new privileges, though, that come with second-class year and its responsibilities. Most notable: You usually get liberty during the week, during which you can go out and about in civvies when off the Academy campus. You're allowed to be invited to the "Firsties' Club" by a first-class cadet, though not to consume alcohol. You can play music in the dorms, now, too.

Summer training for Second-class Midshipmen breaks down like this:

Some stay aboard the Academy, commanding Plebes during Plebe Summer - basically running the place, under the guidance of the officers.

[There's new cadre every halfway through, allowing for not the entire summer to be taken up with Plebes.]

Others attend specialized training.

Many serve at least two weeks aboard a starship out of Spacedock, gaining on-the-job training in various departments.

Some serve aboard one of the Academy's training starships, where (under the guidance of officers and senior enlisted) they basically run the ship and take up Department Head posts.

[Suspended for a while after the Valiant mess, now restarted under much closer supervision.]

 

[Penta]

First-Class Year

One year left. Time to celebrate, right?

Er, not quite yet. The first-class year goes by in a haze for virtually every cadet; Classes, athletics, leadership responsibilties, and everything else tends to combine to make the concept of rest a foreign one to many Midshipmen for this year.

---

Classes reserved to first-class cadets:

Starship Command - This course is a bit misnamed - it's really more "Bridge Officer Basics", training the prospective officer in how to command a bridge watch. Successful completion stands in for the Bridge Officer's Test required for eligibility for an unrestricted line community. In the 23rd Century, this course would end with the Kobayashi Maru scenario. However, by 2381, the scenarios are variable, and the final exam scenario is unique for each iteration of the course, designed by the Department of Starfleet Sciences only over the summer break, in conjunction with Starfleet Command personnel.

[I think that no matter how you slice it, the Kobayashi Maru scenario would be...too-expected by cadets by this point. In addition, the lessons it "teaches" are sometimes not the lessons you actually want to teach a prospective commander.]

Ground Command - Taken concurrently with Starship Command, this course prepares cadets to lead an infantry rifle platoon and company in combat. Includes a 96-hour field training exercise on Mars.

[If you believe in Starfleet ground forces, this course serves as a final screener for prospective ground force officers. If you don't (or even if you do), this also gives other cadets a basic introduction to infantry combat command - basically "Just in case" they're ever forced into such a situation.]

Capstone Course - conducted in the spring, a capstone course is conducted for each major, bringing together what might be learned in other courses in the major.

[This is, of course, a small sampling.]

---

In terms of cadet leadership, this is the year when cadets tend to rise or fail based upon their leadership ability. Some cadets may find themselves in battalion, regimental, or even brigade command for a semester; most cadets wind up in battalion, regimental, or brigade staff positions, or in company command. If you're an especially poor performer, you might not have any such responsibilities even at this point, but in that case your career may well be dead before it really begins.

---

Interview Season

During the fall semester, first-class cadets sit through interviews with officers from their top 6 choices for assignment (in terms of service branch). Some of these interviews are relatively standard. Some are...not so standard. (The Starfleet Corps of Engineers is infamous for their interviews being...strange, with questions sometimes being out-of-left-field at the very least. Starfleet Intelligence's interview has been described by *successful* applicants as "frightening", "creepy", and "possibly inappropriate".)

[SCE's interviews take their cue from Hyman G. Rickover's interviews of prospective nuclear officers, and can contain really weird questions. Starfleet Intelligence...Well, it's the spooks.]

Following the interviews, the Academy Assignments Boards (one for each campus) reviews the records of the cadets and decides on who goes where.

This all leads up to Assignment Night.

Assignment Night

On Assignment Night, usually sometime in mid-December at the San Francisco campus, Firsties are assembled in the Academy Gym, there to recieve their assignments from their company officers.

Then, one after the other, they're sent to see the Superintendent, to receive their assignment orders in writing and work out the details.

[To me, it really depends on your billet whether you go on to advanced schooling. Some (Medical, counseling) are guaranteed to, possibly required to, and the orders are written up thusly. Most shipboard departments go straight on to a ship. Fighter Pilots likely head on for flight training, and...who knows what, say, Intelligence folks do.]

Graduation

It's not a day. Oh, no no no. It's more like a whole week focused on graduation, after final exams. From the Graduation Ball through to flight and drill team demonstations, it's packed with events for the families who come from across the Federation to see "their Midshipman" graduate. Graduation happens on a Friday - typically the last Friday of June. At San Francisco, it's presided over by the Superintendent of Starfleet Academy; at other campuses, it's presided over by the campus Commandant of Cadets.

[Factoid: Stealing an idea from (I think?) the British, one's commission only becomes "active" on the first of the month. It's a pay-and-leave-and-admin-stuff thing, but results in the Midshipmen being graduated, but still Midshipmen in rank, for up to a few days.]

After Graduation

Typically, after graduation, the new Ensigns get up to 30 days of graduation leave - sort of compensation for the fact that they often wind up with little to no real "leave" during their Academy years, due to the crazy rhythms of Starfleet life. This can, of course, go byebye in emergencies, but in peacetime, Starfleet tries to provide it. Leave will often see cadet groups sticking together for one last time before heading off to wherever their careers take them next - Hawaii is, for San Francisco graduates, a favorite spot for this post-graduation leave.
---
And so ends your Academy experience. Next post will cover stuff that doesn't fit (for assorted reasons) in the four-year structure.

 

[T'Girl]

Would cadet leadership positions include in-academy ranks like cadet-lieutenant, cadet-commander, cadet-captain? When I was in elementary school in Japan, a Maine Corp officer was talking to my class one day and he seem to say (I was seven) that in the academy some cadets have ranks if they lead a platoon or a company. He also went to Virginia Military Academy (VMA) and I might be getting the two Academies mixed up.

ADMISSIONS.

Would attending a private academy, like the VMA, increase a candidates chances of admittance to the SFA, like a pre-school?

A friend of my family is at the Air Force Academy, she needed a recommendation from a Congressional Representative on top of her impressive academics to enter the academy, how about the SFA?

Do off-spring of current or retired Starfleet officers receive any special consideration?

Would admittance solely be by the potential cadet's applying? Or would the SFA and Starfleet go looking for promising canidates, like the way colleges scout high school football teams? Search member worlds for young people with both superior academics and desirable personal atributes, like saving a baby from a burning building, eagle scouts, displays of wisdom, a adventurous spirit.

-------------
Any thoughts on failure and drop out rates?

--------------

xenohistoric

This would actually be tough, the larger the Federation got the more planetary histories it would have. They might just teach historical trends, the effects of war, colonialism, types of political revolutions, emancipation of slaves/serfs, industrial growth. Using select detailed histories of certain worlds for examples.

Shuttlecraft Operations - A one-semester course leading to basic piloting certification, enabling the solo operation of a shuttlecraft.

When people enter today's military, the service usually doesn't have the teach them to drive a vehicle. A nineteen year old girl with the equivalency of a drivers licence may already be able to pilot a shuttlecraft, only controls special to Starfleet would need to be taught.

 

[Nerys Myk]

A friend of my family is at the Air Force Academy, she needed a recommendation from a Congressional Representative on top of her impressive academics to enter the academy, how about the SFA?

Kirk got a recommendation from Mallory in the Prime Universe and from Pike in the New Universe. I think Nog got one from Sisko. So a recommedation from a Starfleet officer helps.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Would cadet leadership positions include in-academy ranks like cadet-lieutenant, cadet-commander, cadet-captain? When I was in elementary school in Japan, a Maine Corp officer was talking to my class one day and he seem to say (I was seven) that in the academy some cadets have ranks if they lead a platoon or a company. He also went to Virginia Military Academy (VMA) and I might be getting the two Academies mixed up.

Looks like they do: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Naval_Academy#Rank_structure

I lived in Japan as a child too. First at Tachikawa AFB and later at Misawa AFB

 

[Penta]

Admissions is a good question. My sense: Command officer recommendation was required for Nog because he wasn't a UFP citizen. For everybody else, it seems to be strictly by competitive process, canonically. (I described admissions in my first few posts, I think - certainly, if they were going to cherry-pick anyone, they would cherry-pick someone like Wesley Crusher, at least at first?)

I do see there being a system of cadet ranks, but I wanted to keep things relatively simple for this thread, hence I didn't go into them.

I'm not sure how much Starfleet Academy really needs to advertise or scout for recruits. They might do a little of that, but I always got the feeling Starfleet Academy was so well known that it didn't need to advertise - this is a big difference from USMA, USNA, or USAFA, where people are genuinely surprised to find out that you don't need special connections (necessarily) to get in.

Retention rates: I figure that for Plebe Summer, 10-15% of the Plebes separate from the Academy before the summer is done. I think the retention rates for San Francisco would be something like 15-20% of the Plebe class doesn't make it to their second year for all sorts of reasons. The rate is probably lower, 10-15% at the other branch campuses - There isn't the same prestige, but neither is there the same pressure.

The way I see it, once you get past your second year, it's very odd for someone to not be commissioned. Not unheard of, but it's not common for people to quit or be dismissed after that point.

 

[Admiral_Young]

This is an awesome thread...what about academic based courses? You've listed a pretty good core of military classes but not any academic? I've scanned through the thread though so forgive me if some of these were mentioned. Xenohistorical classes could be given on the core Federation races and then a series of electives on other species within the Federation members could be offered. Also what about officer sponsors? Mallory was only in the Shatnerverse book we don't know how Kirk got into the Academy in the Prime Universe. Picard took the test three times before he got in. Perhaps this might be a aspect of the early Starfleet Academy program...we know that Spock sponsored both Saavik and Valeris. Sisko as mentioned gave Nog his recommendation and probably would have acted as a sponsor if this was in the 23rd century.

What about the concept of "elite squads" like Nova Squadron (from First Duty) or Red Squad (from Deep Space Nine) or after the Valiant "mess" as you put it Penta would the Academy Board suspend the concept of these squads? How many of them would there have been? How would the selection process take place for their rosters?

 

[SpyOne]

(For similar reasons, I suspect SFA has a "You be out or we out you" policy re homosexuality - they could care less, but the idea is to prevent issues like date rape, both accusations and worse. Hiding your status will get you beaten over the head by Academy staff, who will basically presume nefarious motives.)

I support this, though for different reasons.
I am reminded of the ridiculous circular logic the US government used in the 1950s: if you are gay, it is presumed you are keeping that a secret, and therefore a foreign agent who learned that could use it to blackmail you, therefore you are a security risk, therefore you must keep it secret because if we find out we will fire you.
I do think Starfleet would have an issue with anyone trying to keep a major secret that could be used to blackmail them, but more than that I see this quote from the rules for Rogers' Rangers (1755-1763)

4. Tell the truth about what you see and what you do. There is an army depending on us for correct information. You can lie all you please when you tell other folks about the Rangers, but don't never lie to a Ranger or officer.

Keeping a major personal secret is incompatible with service in Starfleet.

That may in fact explain best why we have a seemingly 80-percent human Starfleet: Starfleet gets most of its support in terms of personnel from, and hence sets up most of its Academy campuses on, "human" worlds. A classic free-rider problem, in some regards. (This has the purely out-of-character benefit of killing two birds with one stone.)

For myself, I see three main reasons for this:
1) TOS established that the Preservers seeded several planets in this region of space with humans in pre-history. Many of those worlds may now be members of the Federation.
2) Various sources establish alien races that look human unless closely examined.
3) Nobody has been quite as enthusiastic about joining the Federation as the Earth people: we gave over several of our major cities to host Federation facilites, for example. When was the last time you heard about the United Earth Government? The Earth representative to the Federation? Earth Defense Forces? It looks like the Federation basicly is the government of Earth.

I see the possibility of various tracks, but just...viscerally dislike the idea that you can lock yourself in (or more precisely, lock yourself out of command of a starship) quite that early.

Who says they have to lock themselves out? They can always take additional command classes later when they choose to transfer into command. IRIC, that's what Janeway did, she mentioned the Command School or somesuch. In fact, once you reach a sufficiently high place in the chain-of-command, command training is probably mandatory.

A good on-screen example of this is Worf on DS9: Sisko was tutoring Worf on the duties of Command personnel, due to Worf's change of branch.

SISKO: I thought you should know O'Brien and Bashir are throwing a party for you at Quark's. It looks like quite a bash.
WORF: I am aware of it, but I have much on my mind. Ch'Pok was right. I did have something to prove when I took command of the convoy and I did not realise it until I stood there looking down at him, blood trickling from his mouth. In that moment I remember thinking finally he had given me what I really wanted. A reason to attack him. And I had that same feeling when the Klingon ships first attacked. Finally, a chance for vengeance. I should not have accepted the mission.
SISKO: I'm glad you realise that. That was your first mistake. What was your second?
WORF: When the ship decloaked, I should have checked the target before I fired.
SISKO: You're damned right you should've checked. You fired at something you hadn't identified. You made a military decision to protect your ship and crew, but you're a Starfleet officer, Worf. We don't put civilians at risk or even potentially at risk to save ourselves. Sometimes that means we lose the battle and sometimes our lives. But if you can't make that choice, then you can't wear that uniform.
WORF: Yes, sir.
SISKO: At ease, Commander. Now, all that being true, the reality is no harm has been done. There are no dead children on your conscience. You got lucky.
WORF: I do not feel lucky.
SISKO: And that's why despite everything that's happened you're going to make a hell of a captain some day. Now, let's go. They'll all be waiting. Look, this party isn't for you as much as it is for them. Things got a little tense there for a while. They need a release, a chance to celebrate.
WORF: But I do not feel like celebrating.
SISKO: Part of being a captain is knowing when to smile, make the troops happy even when it's the last thing in the world you want to do. Because they're your troops and you have to take care of them.
WORF: Life is a great deal more complicated in this red uniform.
SISKO: Wait till you get four pips on that collar. You'll wish you had gone into botany.

Second-class Year

Well, you're halfway through.

It's not clear sailing, but the hardest years of SFA are behind you.

Thing to note: Like their 21st century counterparts, Starfleet Academy comes with an active duty service obligation. This obligation "triggers" the start of your second-class year. Leave before that point, and you have no obligation. Leave after that point, voluntarily or involuntarily, and you're obligated to serve a term as enlisted, or pay the Academy back the costs of training, at the Academy's option. (Recoupment, as it's known, is generally only used punitively by Starfleet - if someone is just "I don't want to be an officer", Starfleet makes them serve a term as enlisted - the theory being that you should have figured that out before wasting 2 years of everybody's time and taking up an appointment slot, so serving as enlisted is, at least, fair.)

While this seems quite reasonable, it stands in contrast to some canon evidence: Starfleet seems to recognize that life in Starfleet is not for everyone, and that it may take someone quite some time to figure out that life in Starfleet is not for them, so leaving seems to be a "no harm, no foul" deal. Take as examples Wesley Crusher, who resigned in his Senior Year (IIRC) and went on walkabout with The Traveller, and Nick Locarno, also a Senior, who resigned after accepting responsibility for an accident that killed a junior cadet.
It seems that serving in Starfleet is a privelege and not a duty: the training is available for free to all who make the cut, and there is no obligation of service (although there is a certain amount of shame in leaving the service).

A friend of my family is at the Air Force Academy, she needed a recommendation from a Congressional Representative on top of her impressive academics to enter the academy, how about the SFA?

Kirk got a recommendation from Mallory in the Prime Universe and from Pike in the New Universe. I think Nog got one from Sisko. So a recommedation from a Starfleet officer helps.

SISKO: Nog, if you want to become a Starfleet Officer, you have to attend the Academy.
NOG: All right. Where do I sign up?
SISKO: It's not that simple. As a non-Federation citizen, you need a letter of reference from a command level officer before you can even take the entrance exam.
NOG: A command level officer? You mean, like you?
SISKO: Well, yes. Like me.
NOG: Then you'll write the letter.
SISKO: I'll think about it.

Valuable both because it shows that non-citzens can serve in Starfleet (although it seems unusual), and that it implies that such a letter would not be required for a citizen.

Sorry for the long post, but I guess it beats 3 posts in a row.

 

[Cheapjack]

Very interesting to read these posts, but what about the exploration and scientific arms, or departments, or aspects of Starfleet? Or are they shoved to the back and stuck behind desks, where no-one can see them?

Or, don't they exist? Are there any pure research vessels that don't have as heavy armament, like Grissom, in ST3?