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Provisional ranks[]

Shouldn't this info be on the provisional officer page? --From Andoria with Love 03:40, 21 Sep 2005 (UTC) In the article it says: "... Captain Kathryn Janeway awarded provisional ranks to several capable officers of a Maquis vessel in 2371..."

Surely "several" should be replaced by "all" as every Maquis seen on Voyager held a rank of some description with accompanying rank insignia.

Well, not all of them would seem to have been made "officers". I believe a number of them were made "crewmen", an enlisted rank. --OuroborosCobra talk 14:14, 27 October 2006 (UTC)
I thought that a field promotion was just that, a promotion in the field. Witness Wesley in TNG: "Ménage à Troi" and TNG: "Final Mission" and Riker in the TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds" storyline. Wesley was a provisional Ensign before that point, but very obviously not afterwards. --Jfromtheoak 03:47, June 8, 2010 (UTC)

Merge?[]

Is a battlefield commission the same as a field commission? The former lists DS9: "Valiant" as a reference, which is also cited for the latter. Not sure about "Once More Unto the Breach" though. If they are the same, then a merge would make sense. - Intricated talk page 20:09, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

It was regarding Martok. Anyway this article title seems to be the only topic on the matter as per battlefield commission at Wikipedia. Perhaps we should follow suit. --Alan del Beccio 20:12, 2 September 2006 (UTC)
I'm not sure if they're the same or not. One seems to be a commission for excellence in duty in general, while the battlefield commission is for excellence in battle. Either way, this should be merged with provisional officer. --From Andoria with Love 12:16, 12 December 2006 (UTC)
The only difference I can see is that a field commission tends to be temporary (Riker went back to first officer, Wesley did not stay an acting ensign...we're not sure what happened to the Maquis from Voyager or the survivor from the Valiant), while a battlefield commission tends to be permanent, as in Martok's case. I agree that they're similar enough to merge, but we should distinguish temporary from permanent. Also, Valiant had both, as the dying captain gave a field commission to Watters, and he proceeded to give battlefield commissions to his crew. Tired_ 12:18, 18 January 2007 (UTC)
The two are pretty much the same term for the same thing. During peace time, an enlisted person or NCO is not normally pointed at and informed he is now an officer. During a wartime scenario, the exigencies of the given situation may necessitate that. A battlefield commission is similar to a brevet promotion in that someone is being promoted to fill a spot that cannot otherwise be filled in an acceptable manner. This is a bit of an oversimplification since there is more to it than a wave of a hand. The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.92.12.5 (talk).
This discussion is now over a year old, which brings me to make the following observation. Martok was a civilian who was given a battlefield commission, and eventually rose to the rank of general, clearly, this was not a temporary promotion, as implied by the title of the suggested merge to article: provisional officer. Perhaps the whole lot should be displaced to a more permanency-neutral title like field commission or field promotion. --Alan del Beccio 09:59, 16 September 2007 (UTC)
What do we do? Where does it go? Field commission/promotion redirect to provisional officer. So... do we still move this to provisional officer? --From Andoria with Love 10:33, 16 March 2008 (UTC)
This has gone on for far too long. I'm going to remove the merge template since there's no consensus on what the heck to do with it. --From Andoria with Love 19:42, 22 March 2008 (UTC)

Speculation[]

Removed this speculation today about Riker wearing four pips in the BoBW episodes:

However, this may have been due to the fact that Hanson was in direct contact with Starfleet Command, which recognized Riker as captain.

As speculation, it doesn't belong. -- sulfur

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