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Captain Jean-Luc Picard

O'Brien's Rank

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I believe he was always meant to be an enlisted man, but they (TPTB) just never really worked out the enlisted ranks until DS9. It doesn't really matter that much, it would have been better if they had paid closer attention to detail though.

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Did anyone notice that he had an ensign rank pip durring the first season or 2 of DS9?

Yeah, I noticed that too.

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He was even a student at Starfleet academy. I wonder what happened? His actual rank was Chief Petty Officer which is an enlisted rank equivalent to a sergeant in the army,i believe. Still, non-com or not, O'Brien was extemely good.

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The character of Miles O’Brien, and the exact rank he held in Star Trek, has a history of its own spanning the length of the character's existence. In thirteen years of the character’s apperances, only in the last four was his rank of Senior Chief Petty Officer ever firmly established. Through various other stages of the character’s development, O’Brien was referred to as a Crewman, a Lieutenant, and various script notes indicated he was a Warrant Officer. The novelization of DS9: "Emissary" indicated O’Brien held a rank known as "Ensign Junior Grade".

 

Possible explanations for O’Brien’s various titles and insignia include:

 

*During some points of The Next Generation, O'Brien may have held a field commission as an officer, which would explain why Riker once called him a Lieutenant. His continuous wearing of two pips (which is the standard insignia of a Lieutenant) might be a type of "honorary insignia" even though he was later clearly referred to as a Chief Petty Officer.

 

*Starfleet non-commissioned officer insignia might be identical to officer insignia, with the number of pips worn by an NCO indicating level of seniority as a Chief Petty Officer. Under this system, one pip would equal a Chief Petty Officer, two a Senior Chief, and three a Master Chief. With O'Brien wearing two pips throughout The Next Generation, this would equate with his final established rank of Senior Chief Petty Officer in Deep Space Nine.

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well he said it himself when sisko, dax and bashier are missing on earth during the mid 21stcentruy. "i couldn 't stand big dinners with starfleet brass, that's why i became an NCO. makes the job a whole lot easier"

Edited by tj_hawk

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well he said it himself when sisko, dax and bashier are missing on earth during the mid 21stcentruy. "i couldn 't stand big dinners with starfleet brass, that's why i became an NCO. makes the job a whole lot easier"

 

Don't think many people can stand big dinners with the bras no matter what the persons rank is.

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well he just said why he became a non commissioned officer instead of an commissioned one. i think he said there was another reason why he became a non commissioned officer...but i can't remember

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well he just said why he became a non commissioned officer instead of an commissioned one. i think he said there was another reason why he became a non commissioned officer...but i can't remember

 

Well in the end in DS9 he had to show up to most of all the big dinners and what nots anyway. Also O'Brien even though he was a non-com officers he still gave out orders to the younger officers, officers looked for his guidence and so forth.

 

I think O'Brien kind of screwed himself for being so good at what he does, being in the end he was apart of the officer's staff even if he did not like it or not.

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well he just said why he became a non commissioned officer instead of an commissioned one. i think he said there was another reason why he became a non commissioned officer...but i can't remember

 

Well in the end in DS9 he had to show up to most of all the big dinners and what nots anyway. Also O'Brien even though he was a non-com officers he still gave out orders to the younger officers, officers looked for his guidence and so forth.

 

I think O'Brien kind of screwed himself for being so good at what he does, being in the end he was apart of the officer's staff even if he did not like it or not.

Think about it in terms of the real military, while a Command Sergeant Major might not "give orders" to a 2nd Lieutenant the 2LT would be well advised to listen to and do whatever the CSM said. The CSM would have 30+ years of military experience and would have been promoted from E1 all the way to E9 while the 2LT would be likely less than 2 years of experience and had never had a promotion.

 

So in the context of DS9, of Miles were to "Order" Nog to do something then Nog would pretty much do it without question because at his rank he's basically a child in Starfleet and Miles is an Adult with many years of field experience.

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