Starfleet Marines

[Silent Cal]

Inspired by some inquieries in the 'Dealing With the Draka' thread and some of my own google-fu, I've wondered why no-one bothered to make a Star Trek show set in the Dominion War, like DS9, but this time centering on ground troops, not the damnable capships.

The answer, I think, are the Starfleet Marines - Enterprise MACOs with 24th century gear - NOT redshirts with sissy remote controllers getting offed in the most gruesome way possible by the 'Monster of the Week (TM)', but actual, competent, mobile ground troops with all kinds of support (logistics, artillery, orbital, etc.) that Sci-Fi troops would normally need.

Therefore, I present, the Starfleet Marines:

Starfleet Marines

An overview

By Colonel David Sladky

Based on the Starfleet Marine Manual

5th Edition

All rights reserved, 1999



One of the most overlooked aspects of Star Fleet is the need of the Federation to have a peacekeeping force, which is Fast-moving and hard-hitting; troops which are essentially "ground-based" and designed to handle situations that cannot be Efficiently solved in any other manner.

Starships of all types are superb for exploration and defense, but there are often times when they supply simply too much power, for the job at hand. Power enough to devastate a planet is horrifyingly wonderful, but when something is needed to settle a Simple planetary dispute, calling in a Starship is like burning down the barn to get rid of the rats.

So the Federation must have a force of men and arms which can operate efficiently on a relatively small scale, in a short amount of time, and within the laws and guidelines of the Federation Articles. This group is the Starfleet Marines.

The Marine Corps is an integral part of the Federation Forces. Acting under Starfleet Command, they work with Starships and other vessels in exploration, defense, and security. But they are also quite autonomous, as Marine exercises are often undertaken far from the nearest Starbase or command Center.

In fact, most of their duties are those which are simply too small, on a galaxy-wide scale, to be of primary importance to Starfleet. But the Marines' operations are no less important for all that, as allowing small disputes and emergencies to get out of hand could quickly cause the collapse of the entire Federation from within.

What then, are the duties and responsibilities of the Federation Marines? It is an open question, as the force is rather loosely organized, enabling them to meet any contingency with a maximum amount of flexibility. True, many Marines have assigned Posts as security and containment forces, but such duties are outside the norm.

The elite of the Marines is ready at any time to move in on trouble; consequently they cannot be sequestered to permanent Duties. The entire idea of a quickly activated strike force is defeated if they are tied down. For most purposes, all Starfleet Marines are among this "ready" force, no matter where they are billeted.

The Marines are a handpicked group of tough fighting veterans. They hold immense pride in being Marines, and rightfully boast That it is harder to join their number than it is to get into any other Starfleet branch.

Rest of text here:
http://www.trekunited.com/community/index.php?automodule=blog&blogid=17&showentry=81

Really nifty logos and badges here: http://memoryalpha.region7.com/sfmc.html


Discuss.

 

[Silent Cal]

No takers? No-one even mildly interested in discussing this topic?

 

[Jasen777]

So is this a sort of alt history trek? We saw a unit of starfleet that was specifically sent on a long term ground mission in DS9 (the episode where they had to defend a captured communications array) and it was pretty absurd.

Also, I'm not a gun expert, but the type-II hand phaser is pretty much a perfect example of how not to design a gun.

 

[Silent Cal]

So is this a sort of alt history trek? We saw a unit of starfleet that was specifically sent on a long term ground mission in DS9 (the episode where they had to defend a captured communications array) and it was pretty absurd.

Also, I'm not a gun expert, but the type-II hand phaser is pretty much a perfect example of how not to design a gun.

People have actually tried to expand on the whole idea, there's even a semi-official 'Star Trek: Expanded Universe' project going on, but who knows if the owners and makers of Trek will accept it.

After all Star Trek was a show about space;(hence; Space - the Final Frontier) shuttles, starships, space battles and the like and unfortunately there's seldom space for ground-pounders there. I actually read somewhere than there was supposed to be a full marine detachment/complement on board the Enterprise (in case of boarding, expeditions, etc.) in TOS, but they gave up on the idea for one reason or another. Seems redshirts offer much more drama and comic relief, so they decided to go with that.

And I whole-heartedly agree on the second point. The phasers-pistols (and the MACOs' rifles) from Enterprise were ten-times better, no matter how comical they may have looked.