Do Starfleet Marines exist?
Why is half of the Trek fandom *obsessed* with Starfleet Marines? Canonically, there is no such thing as Starfleet Marines, at least not at the time of TNG. Oh well, there is Colonel West in “Star Trek VI” and there are ground troops with different uniform colors in DS9: “Nor the Battle to the Strong” and “The Siege of AR-558”. Based on this evidence it would be far-fetched to conclude that the ground troops must be called “Marines”. Why not “Federation Army” or simply “Starfleet Ground Troops”? Moreover Starfleet, as stated several times especially in TNG, is not intended to be a primarily military organization anyway. I don’t like if fans in RPGs narrow Trek down to its military aspects. Since few other countries besides the USA have Marines, it is also rather Americentric. Anyone is free to include Marines in his own fiction, but don’t insist on them being canon. Finally, the fact that several MACOs (not “Marines”) board Enterprise in “The Expanse” doesn’t change my opinion. On the
Why is half of the Trek fandom *obsessed* with Starfleet Marines? Canonically, there is no such thing as Starfleet Marines, at least not at the time of TNG. Oh well, there is Colonel West in “Star Trek VI” and there are ground troops with different uniform colors in DS9: “Nor the Battle to the Strong” and “The Siege of AR-558”. Based on this evidence it would be far-fetched to conclude that the ground troops must be called “Marines”. Why not “Federation Army” or simply “Starfleet Ground Troops”? Moreover Starfleet, as stated several times especially in TNG, is not intended to be a primarily military organization anyway. I don’t like if fans in RPGs narrow Trek down to its military aspects. Since few other countries besides the USA have Marines, it is also Americentric. Anyone is free to include Marines in his own fiction, but don’t insist on them being canon. Finally, the fact that several MACOs (not “Marines”) board Enterprise in “The Expanse” doesn’t change my opinion. On the contrar
