CHIEF O'briens rank

Founder · **Fri Jun 25, 2004 12:14 pm**

Dont remind him....

gul Lemek III. · **Sat Jun 26, 2004 3:36 pm**

I can't imagine O'Brien calling Wesley "sir"

Toad · **Sun Jun 27, 2004 11:37 am**

According to my brother: His official rank is chief warrant officer. It's a non commisioned rank meaning he is an enlisted man. The special insignia that he has means chief of operations. The standard CWO insignia is a black rank pip identical to those worn by lieutenant (J.G.) and lieutenant commanders. The episode where Bashier and O'Brien get captured by the Jem Hadar confirms this. The commanding Jem Hadar identifies O'Brien as a non-com. There is no rank between ensign and lieutenant (J.G.). My brother doesn't know why he was a lieutenant in TNG and a non-com in DS9. The Star Trek Encyclopedia confirms this, look it up if you want to.

Zippy · **Fri Jul 02, 2004 1:25 am**

Robsladey · **Fri Jul 02, 2004 7:34 am**

Yeah I remembered that after I posted that he left to become some native freak. oh well my bad

robbiewebster · **Sun Jul 04, 2004 6:09 pm**

O'Brien is currently a professor of engineering at starfleet academy.
In his first appearance on TNG he was an ensign. Then he became chief petty officer (when his uniform color changed from red to gold). When he was on DS9 he was the Chief of Operations, not engineering. His job was basically the maintenance of the stations systems.

Sonic74205 · **Sun Jul 04, 2004 6:20 pm**

In season 3 TNG he was the transporter chief and he was a Lt.

Robsladey · **Tue Jul 06, 2004 3:36 am**

Could this be one of the writers biggest mistakes? Because no one can seem to find a solid solution.

Founder · **Tue Jul 06, 2004 10:38 am**

Its either a mistake or maybe he did join starfleet and then left and became non com?

Tyvek · **Wed Jul 07, 2004 11:19 pm**

gul Lemek III. · **Mon Jul 12, 2004 7:20 am**

Mustkillbret · **Mon Jul 19, 2004 3:08 pm**

Hes a warrant officer

kokori · Ensign Joined: 12 Mar 2002 Posts: 60

More like a jack of all trades officer, everyone has O'brien doing every line of work possible.

One thing is for sure, whatever rank he gets teaching at starfleet academy hes definately earned it.

Kuro-chan · **Fri Jul 23, 2004 6:05 pm**

Whew. I am TOTALLY going to have fun with THIS topic.

We have seen O'Brien go through more ranks than we have seen different starship classes. To summarize:

During TNG:

Season 1: Ensign (One gold pip)
Seasons 2-5: Lieutenant (Two gold pips)
Season 6: Ensign for 1 episode, then black pip until DS9

During DS9

Season 1-3: Black pip
Season 4-7: Non-Commissioned Officer rank: Senior Chief Petty Officer.

Now for anyone who is familiar with a traditional military system, enlisted personnel are those who take the basic training and are quickly thrown onto the field, whereas fully commissioned officers spend a great deal more time before they graduate. Generally Commissioned officers outrank Enslited personnel, regardless of experience or service. So when O'Brien commented that after Nog graduated, he would have to call him "Sir", that was absolutely correct, because Nog, despite being fresh out of the academy, would outrank O'Brien.

As for O'Brien, I think it is safe to say that the rank he held on DS9 was the correct rank he was supposed to have through TNG. He held Chief Petty Officer for seasons 1-3, and was promoted to Senior Chief Petty Officer (Along with Dax and Bashir who both received promotions as well). His rank was stated by a Jem'Hadar officer, Goran'Agar, when they were captured during the episode "Hippocratic Oath"
In the TNG episode "Family" Sergei Rohzenko (Worf's adoptive dad) mentioed he was pleased to see a felly chief petty officer, "While" wearing the rank of Lieutenant. This was my first hint what he real rank was, although it could be argued he went through the Warrant Officer program and was eventually promoted to Lieutenant. However, the big rank change by the 6th season would seem to suggest otherwise. I think someone in the costuming department was screwing up for several years, and finally noticed in the 6th season what was going on, especially considering Colm Meaney was going from a secondary role in TNG to a cast member in DS9.

As for the Black Pip... well I have heard it can be one of two ranks. Either:

- Chief Petty Officer
- Warrant Officer.

As we noticed in DS9, season 4, someone finally came up with a pip for enlisted personnel, as we noticed O'Brien was wearing a new non-com rank.

Therefore, because of that change, I am convinced the single black pip represents Warrant Officer.

Founder · **Fri Jul 23, 2004 6:48 pm**

Nice job with all that. I think that explains a lot.

Kuro-chan · **Fri Jul 23, 2004 7:17 pm**

Well, that is coming from someone who did her research while making up a RPG game.

Founder · **Fri Jul 23, 2004 7:26 pm**

You like to cover all the bases eh?