Duties and Responsibilities: The Commanding Officer has the ultimate responsibility for the safety and well being of his ship and crew and to ensure that the ship's current mission is being satisfactorily executed. The CO's immediate staff are the First Officer and the chiefs of the other departments (the Department Heads), but is, in reality, the entire ship's complement. The CO has no set duty shift and is always considered to be on call. On larger starships the CO usually has his own office, and this office is sometimes very close to the bridge, offering quick and easy access in emergency situations. The CO is also responsible for meting out punishment for crew members found guilty of breaking major regulations. The Commanding Officer is also traditionally the member of the crew who performs such duties as marrying crew members under his command and serving as the host at all official functions held aboard his ship.

FIRST OFFICER (XO)

Duties and Responsibilities: Sometimes called the Executive Officer (XO) the First Officer's main responsibility is to ensure the smooth operation of the ship and her crew and to act as a conduit for relevant information to the commanding officer, ensuring the safety and security of the commanding officer, and advising the commanding officer in all instances. In this regard, he is usually authorized (unless specifically limited by the CO in any respect) to make decisions without the CO's prior approval. He is considered, for all practical purposes, a "captain in training," and, in the absence of the CO, is the ship's commanding officer. He must be a jack-of-all-trades, able to answer almost any question or offer a solution to any problem. All department heads report directly to the First Officer. The XO is usually the leader of most away teams (especially potentially hazardous missions) and may choose members of those teams as long as his choices are not detrimental to the mission or the safety of the ship. For all practical purposes, the FO's staff is also comprised of the bridge crew and is also always on call. On larger starships, the XO usually has his own office. On smaller ships, he may be required to share his office with the CO or the Second Officer, or use a conference/meeting room for this purpose. The XO is also responsible for maintaining discipline and determining punishment for members of the crew found guilty of breaking minor regulations. On smaller starships, the duties of First Officer may be combined with other duties (such as Chief Engineer).

SECOND OFFICER (SO)

Duties and Responsibilities: A somewhat unique position usually found only on larger starships, the Second Officer takes command in the event that both the CO and XO are away from the ship or are unable to perform their duties. Again, the duties of the SO, if used, may be combined with other duties (such as a Con or Ops officer), and smaller ships will not even have an SO. The SO usually does not have an office of his own, and any staff he may have is generally determined by his normal duties.

HELM OFFICER

Duties and Responsibilities: The helm officer is responsible for all of the ship's helm and navigational tasks, with the assistance of the ship's computers. He receives his instructions directly from the Commanding Officer on his shift. The Helm officer computes and maintains the ship's flight plan, accounting for all known variables in the ship's path. Highly interactive, this position is usually the first step toward a command position. Like the Ops officer, this position also has no staff or office unless performing a special task at the request of the CO/XO. The helm officer is also the primary bridge liaison to engineering. By using a combination of the navigational sensors, science sensors, and tactical sensors the flight control officer can calculate the course of the ship. Course can be input by desired destination, proximity to another vessel, relative bearing, absolute heading, or galactic coordinates. The helm officer must know the exact location of the ship in order to make course corrections. Ship location can be determined by time space beacons, subspace radio relays, other vessels, probes, sensors, or celestial objects. During manual and automatic flight operations the helm officer must monitor navigational sensors, the navigational deflector, the structural integrity field, and the inertial dampening system. Since the flight control officer monitors several critical systems aboard a starship, it is not surprising that flight control serves as liaison between the bridge and engineering. The flight control officer will often contact engineering to note performance problems or requirements related to flight control, if and when an engineering officer is not present on the bridge.

CHIEF TACTICAL OFFICER (CTO)

Duties and Responsibilities: The main tactical and weapon's officer aboard a starship, the Chief Tactical Officer is another highly trained and interactive individual. The CTO is, in reality, always on duty. All of the ship's defensive shields and weapons systems, from the shipboard phasers and photon torpedo launch systems to smaller hand-held weapons, are controlled and supervised by this officer. In addition to weapons, the CTO is also responsible for the operation and maintenance of all ship's tactical long- and short-range scanners, tractor beams, sensor probes, and message and record buoys (although he may share some of these duties with the CSO). During alert conditions the tactical officer is responsible for the activation and monitoring of starship shields. This includes making manual adjustments such as shield modulation and recalibration. The tactical officer has control of all starship or unit defensive systems. These systems include tactical analysis, targeting, and firing. All tactical maneuvers must be coordinated with the flight control officer.

CHIEF SECURITY OFFICER (CSecO)

Duties and Responsibilities: Security of the starship/station and its personnel is paramount. For this reason, the security officer is responsible for internal security. This can range from security for visiting diplomats to counterinsurgency. External Security - During away team missions personnel are vulnerable to attack. For this reason, the security officer is responsible for arranging security for officers away from the starship/station. He is responsible for securing and maintaining safety for the ship and its crew, from both internal and external threats, and is usually an integral member of most away teams. The CSecO generally has a large staff relative to the size of the vessel, and an office for coordinating their functions and schedules. Security officers may also function as damage control officers, when required.

CHIEF ENGINEERING OFFICER (CEO)

Duties and Responsibilities: The Chief Engineer is the principal "mechanic" of the ship. What the CMO is to the crew, the CEO is to the ship. He is knowledgeable in all aspects of starship engineering, from the warp engines to the food replicators and innermost conduits. He can usually be guaranteed to at least find the cause for a problem or malfunction, although he may need more extensive facilities than those found on his ship to effect repairs. He has his own office on the main engineering deck and can monitor and control all engineering functions from his position on the bridge. Like the CO and XO, the Chief Engineer is technically always on call, even though most larger ships will have an assistant CEO assigned. The CEO has a complete staff knowledgeable in all aspects of starship engineering, from computer technicians to maintenance personnel. This staff is generally commensurate with the size and mission of the ship. The primary responsibilities of the engineer are monitoring, maintaining, and repairing starship/station systems. Since most systems are critical, they must be monitored on a continuous basis. While much of this monitoring is automated, during critical situations officer interaction is required. Keeping systems in prime condition is extremely important. For this reason, the engineer has control over diagnostic and maintenance equipment pertaining to each separate system. Damage to any system can lead to disaster. For this reason, the engineer has many resources with which to repair damaged systems. These include personnel, materials, and special equipment.

OPERATIONS OFFICER (OPS)

Duties and Responsibilities: A crucial station on any starship, the Ops officer keeps track of all major shipboard activities and sets priorities and schedules among the requested and required operations. Regardless of their size, ships cannot produce unlimited power, so the Ops officer delegates how much power goes to what functions and at what times. He is in charge of allocating all resources aboard ship, although the ship's computer does a great deal in assisting in this task by scheduling most of the routine functions. The Ops officer is responsible for updating the crew and the main computer with important information and has direct access to the majority of the ship's functions. As such, the Ops officer is an indispensable crew member when it comes to information gathering and analysis. Unless performing a special task assigned at the request of the CO/XO, this individual has no staff. The primary responsibilities of the operations officer are supervision of power allocation, coordination and scheduling of starship or unit resources, and assignment of away team personnel and equipment. During critical situations the operations officer is responsible for supervising power allocation. This may require rerouting power, taking key systems off-line, and coordinating activities with engineering. At any given moment multiple requests for starship or station resources may be made. The operations officer must prioritize these requests and allocate the necessary resources. Starship and station resources include both equipment and personnel. During away team missions the operations officer is responsible for notifying away team members and issuing equipment. The operations officer is also responsible for monitoring away team location, activities, and communication. The operations officer has control of all communications systems. These systems include intraship communication, ship-to-ground communication, ship-to-ship communication, and long-range subspace communication.

CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER (CMO)

Duties and Responsibilities: The Chief Medical Officer, sometimes called the Chief Surgeon, is the ship's senior medical officer. As such, Starfleet Command will usually assign a CMO who possesses medical expertise in the predominant lifeform of the ship in question, although this is not always possible. The CMO oversees the operation of the entire medical department and his staff may range from one or two assistants on smaller starships to as many as a dozen or more doctors and nurses on larger classes. In addition, specialized medical personnel may be temporarily or permanently assigned when the ship's size or mission dictates. The medical staff is usually commensurate with the ship's overall crew complement (usually from 2%-3% of the ship's complement, with a minimum of 4-5 personnel). On larger ships, the CMO is generally a qualified surgeon and possesses basic training in emergency first aid for all crew member assigned, regardless of race. Most medical departments can, as a minimum, render emergency aid to a member of any known race in distress and keep that individual alive until more intensive medical care can be provided, such as a nearby Starbase or other facility. The Chief Medical Officer always has an office within the medical section, although on smaller classes the office might be shared with other individuals or serve added functions. The primary responsibilities of the medical officer are prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of medical problems experienced by starship or station personnel. Prevention of medical problems is accomplished through the use of routine physicals. All personnel are required to submit to physical examinations as required by the medical officer. Diagnosis of medical problems is accomplished through the use of advanced medical systems. These systems include medical tricorders, biobeds, sensor clusters, and extensive medical references. Treatment of medical problems is accomplished through the use of medical resources. These resources include medical equipment (e.g. hyposprays, neural stimulators, etc.) as well as holistic agents (e.g. medicines, physical therapy, etc.).

CHIEF SCIENCE OFFICER (CSO)

Duties and Responsibilities: The Chief Science Officer is generally responsible for obtaining and analyzing all scientific data received from the ship's sensors, whether from the main sensor arrays or hand-held tricorders. The CSO may either be a specialist, concentrating in one or two specific areas, or be a "general practitioner," a jack-of-all-trades. The CSO is responsible to take raw data provided by these input devices and translate that data into dialogue easily understood by the crew, especially the ship's Commanding Officer. It is frequently the input of the CSO that tells a starship captain that what he is seeing on the viewscreen is a potentially hostile enemy. Because of related functions, the CSO may sometimes be required to work closely with the CMO or the Counselor. The CSO has a staff which is usually commensurate with the size and mission of the ship in question. Small ships may have only one science officer, and he may also function as the ship's First Officer. On the other hand, larger starships, such as the Galaxy class, may have dozens of science officers. The CSO on larger ships will have an office, smaller ships may not have the space. The primary responsibilities of the science officer are control of starship or unit sensor arrays, coordination of scientific endeavors, and interpretation of sensor data. The science officer has control of all sensor systems. These systems include navigational sensors, tactical sensors, long-range sensors, and sensor probes. Since sensor systems are a shared resource the science officer is usually involved in a number of scientific projects. Departments such as stellar cartography often contact the science officer for advice and input. Command decisions are made based on all available information; this includes scientific information. The science officer is responsible for the interpretation and dissemination of all scientific data collected by available sensor system

SHIP'S COUNSELOR

Duties and Responsibilities: The Ship's Counselor is always a trained Starfleet officer, and is frequently a member of a species which possesses a high degree of empathic and/or telepathic abilities, although this is not a requirement for the position. The Counselor is an expert in "human engineering" and carefully monitors the crew's emotional state and suggests methods for improvement of such to the CO/XO. Counselors are also trained advisors and are frequently called upon by their command staff to use their skills and insights when negotiating with foreign or alien beings. Counselor generally have no staff, per se, but may have one or two assistants on larger starships, especially if the ship has a large civilian contingent present. Smaller ships may not have a counselor at all. On larger ships with civilians aboard, the Counselor may work closely with those specializing in psychology and social work. The Counselor also works closely with the ship's Chief Medical Officer when their responsibilities overlap. (In such cases, the CMO's decision generally has precedence.) On larger starships, the Counselor will generally have his own office The primary responsibilities of the counselor are diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems experienced by personnel. The counselor also advises command personnel. Diagnosis of psychological problems is accomplished through the use of in depth counseling sessions. All personnel are required to submit to psychological evaluations as required by the counselor. Treatment of psychological problems is accomplished through the use of psychological resources. These resources include different types of therapy and continued psychological counseling. Since counselors are trained in psychological analysis it is not surprising that they often involved in command decisions. These decisions usually deal with diplomacy, negotiation, or first contact.

CHIEF OF THE BOAT

Duties and Responsibilities: Chief of the Boat (COB) is an enlisted person on board a Starfleet vessel who serves as the senior enlisted advisor to the commanding officer and executive officer, and assists with matters regarding the good order and discipline of the crew. There is only one COB on a ship and they are generally responsible for the day-to-day operations, the morale and the training of the ship's enlisted personnel. The COB is typically the most senior enlisted, however the commanding officer is neither required to select the highest ranking enlisted nor the most senior in grade or time aboard. Likewise, the COB is not necessarily replaced when a more senior enlisted reports aboard. When a new enlisted person joins a ship's crew, the COB is usually one of the first people the new crewman will meet. Although the role of COB is outside the direct Chain of Command, the COB has tremendous authority and responsibility as top enlisted of the ship. In addition to his or her departmental responsibilities, the COB/CC performs the following duties: serves as a liaison between the Commanding Officer (or Executive Officer) and the enlisted crewmen; insures enlisted crews understand Command policies; advises the Commanding Officer and Executive Officer regarding enlisted morale, and evaluates the quality of noncommissioned officer leadership, management, and supervisory training. The COB works with the other department heads, Chiefs, supervisors, and crewmen to insure discipline is equitably maintained, and the welfare, morale, and health needs of the enlisted personnel are met. The COB is qualified to temporarily act as Commanding or Executive Officer if so ordered.

MARINES

Duties and Responsibilities: Marines are mainly used as a fighting force. Their primary responsibilities are to infiltrate enemy facilities or ships, gather sensitive information, capture enemy personnel and, if necessary, rescue friendly personnel. Marines also augment security personnel onboard the ship and during away missions for overall security. Marines are required to be expert marksmen and be proficient in the use of explosives. Marines are broken down into platoons, one per ship, with a Senior Marine Officer leading as the Platoon Leader. The Platoon Leader is responsible for the deployment of his marines and coordinates with the Security Officer for ship wide security. The Senior Marine Officer serves as the bridge officer and is the liaison to the Captain.