Star Trek: Red/Gold Shirts Are Engineers?

[Lucky]

LAFORGE: Commander, he's asked me to completely reroute half the power systems on the ship, change every duty roster, realign the warp coils in two days, and now he's transferred a third of my department to Security.

(There's a two story plus piece of equipment in the big cave.) 

LARKIN: There it is. The only reason anyone gives a damn about this place. It's the largest Dominion communications array in the sector. 


SISKO: If we can figure out how it works, we should be able to tap into their entire comm. system. 


LARKIN: One thing's for sure, they're determined to get it back. 


SISKO: We can't let that happen. 


LARKIN: I know our orders, Captain. But maybe Starfleet Command isn't aware of our situation. We've been holding this place for five months. That's five months of fighting off repeated Jem'Hadar attempts to get it back. When we landed here, there was a hundred and fifty of us. We're down to forty three. 


SISKO: I appreciate what you've gone through, and I will make sure that Starfleet understands your situation. But from what I hear, our forces are spread pretty thin in this system. Chances are, you're going to be stuck here for a while longer. 


LARKIN: Lucky us. 

(On the ground floor, someone is working on the array.) 

KELLIN: Someone hand me a duonetic coupler. Thanks. 


EZRI: Your frequency discriminator seems to be drifting. You might want to reset it. 


KELLIN: You an engineer? 


EZRI: No, but Tobin, one of my previous hosts, was. 


KELLIN: Close enough. Grab a microdyne coupler and start recalibrating that transtator.

-=-=-=-=-=-

EZRI: Does that mean we stop working on the communications array? 


SISKO: They'll have to get along without you for a while. We have to find the Houdinis and disarm them. 


EZRI: I'm all for that. These mines are a nasty piece of engineering. 


KELLIN: They're also impossible to detect. I'm sorry, Captain, but I'm an engineer, not a magician. 


SISKO: Larkin says you like a challenge. 


KELLIN: I thought I did. But after banging my head against that communications array for the last few of months, I'm not so sure anymore. 


EZRI: He's just being modest, Captain. Chief O'Brien would be proud to have him on his crew. 


SISKO: I can't think of higher praise.

-=-=-=-=-=-

WORF: Captain. 


SISKO: Yes, Mister Worf. 


WORF: The USS Veracruz has entered orbit. They are beaming down troop replacements and an engineering crew. 


SISKO: What about our people? 


WORF: Doctor Bashir is aboard the Veracruz with Nog and the rest of the wounded. They will be taken to a hospital on Starbase three seven one. 


SISKO: Good. I'll return to the Defiant shortly. 


WORF: This was a great victory. One worthy of story and song. 


SISKO: It cost enough.

1) Does this mean that Star Fleet has MACO hidden somewhere? It seems like I recall talk of actual soldiers in Deep Space Nine.

2) Does this explain the verying levels of competence we see with Starfleet personnel in combat. They seem to range from murder machines to random guy with a gun who is told to look scary.

[Mith]

I don't see what you're getting at. All Starfleet Officers have basic combat training. Geordie's frustration was that his superior temporarily transferred them to another department, the reason being, that his captain was expecting a conflict with the Cardassians and wanted to be sure that the ship would be capable of repelling boarding parties and the such.

I'm sure dedicated security officers are better at combat situations than an engineer with just basic training and I'm sure enlisted personnel shifted to ground combat get even more training. I just don't see why that would be applicable in this case. Seriously, do you honestly think we send medics into the field without teaching them how to shoot?

[Lucky]

I don't see what you're getting at. All Starfleet Officers have basic combat training. Geordie's frustration was that his superior temporarily transferred them to another department, the reason being, that his captain was expecting a conflict with the Cardassians and wanted to be sure that the ship would be capable of repelling boarding parties and the such.

I'm sure dedicated security officers are better at combat situations than an engineer with just basic training and I'm sure enlisted personnel shifted to ground combat get even more training. I just don't see why that would be applicable in this case. Seriously, do you honestly think we send medics into the field without teaching them how to shoot?

That is the point though, most of the Red/Gold shirts on ships are not primarily trained for combat, and may have never been in a combat situation before.

What is normally done in VS debates is that the Red/Gold shirts seen on the ships are assumed trained soldiers rather then the guy who normally fixes the replicator or works on the reactor while being pitted against guys who's job is only to shoot stuff. It's like comparing the guy who works on a submarine's reactor and pitting him against an Army Ranger because they both went through basic combat training.

We hear about troop transports in Deep Space Nine, but I don't recall ever seeing them, and we know ground troops have different uniforms then Starfleet.

In all of Star Trek, the only soldiers i recall being seen in action are the MACO from Enterprise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-_lrf44Gw0