XPost: rec.arts.sf.movies   
   From: psperson@old.netcom.invalid   
      
   On Thu, 12 Feb 2026 09:34:34 +1300, Your Name    
   wrote:   
      
   >On 2026-02-11 07:29:11 +0000, Lawrence D´Oliveiro said:   
   >> On Wed, 11 Feb 2026 17:58:45 +1300, Your Name wrote:   
   >>> On 2026-02-11 02:57:50 +0000, Lawrence D´Oliveiro said:   
   >>>> On Wed, 11 Feb 2026 14:26:44 +1300, Your Name wrote:   
   >>>>    
   >>>>> Except Starfleet is not actually a military organisation ...   
   >>>>    
   >>>> What a load of codswallop.   
   >>>    
   >>> "Starfleet is a paramilitary organisation. That is to say a civilian    
   >>> peacekeeping, exploration and science organisation that uses military    
   >>> structure. They are not a purely military force, though they have some    
   >>> military duties."   
   >>>    
   >>> "Starfleet is neither wholly civilian, nor a military in the    
   >>> conventional sense. They are in fact best described as a peace keeping    
   >>> force."   
   >>    
   >> An organization where everybody is an officer, and there are no    
   >> enlisted personnel!   
   >   
   >There areplenty of enlisted personnel ... they were original the    
   >expendable "red shirts" (until some fool in charge of the shows decied    
   >to swap the shirt colours around).   
   >   
   >> “Not a purely military force”, yet they go around in fully-armed    
   >> warships. If that’s the kind of deadly force they have access to, I    
   >> wonder what the *actual* “military force” in that universe is like?   
   >   
   >Klingons, Romulans, ...  ;-)   
   >   
   >> What about all those times they went into battle against Romulans and    
   >> Klingons and the Borg and who-knows-what-else? Did they ever get backup    
   >> from a separate “proper” military force?   
   >   
   >That's the "peacekeeping" part.   
   >   
   >The real Star Trek military were "Military Assault Command Operations"    
   >(disbanded in 2161), and perhaps smaller parts like Section 31 and    
   >Sector Patrol.   
   >   
   >> Nope. They were it. They *are* the “proper” military force. No ifs or    
   >> buts, no more hemming and hawing about it.   
   >   
   >Military do not do usually do exploration (other then for    
   >reconnaissance purposes) nor diplomacy.   
      
   You might want to consider the Great White Fleet   
   .    
      
   Also the voyaged done by the /British Admiralty/ of exploration, some   
   of which are discussed in   
   .   
      
   So, yes, there appears to be historical precedent of Naval vessels   
   being used for diplomacy and for exploration.   
      
   Which isn't to say that the Federation, if /all/ its Starships were   
   explorers/diplomats, may not have been carrying things to an extreme.   
   --    
   "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,   
   Who evil spoke of everyone but God,   
   Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)