While Red Shirts are great general security forces, sometimes a little something extra is necessary. Think of these as the "Special Forces" used to get in and get out of dangerous situations.
They can of course be ignored as a class by purists no problem, but anything that gives a referee more ideas and adventure options is a good thing in my book--literally in this case.
This was touched on slightly in the Enterprise series with the MAKOs a sort of special ops infantry. I agree that these need to and will always exist in any military establishment.
ReplyDeleteThere has always been some contention regarding marines in Star Trek. I've never felt that because we haven't seen them on screen doesn't mean that they don't exist. For a long time we never saw any intelligence agents on screen, but there was no doubt that the Federation and Starfleet used them. I think this is a nice touch, and I welcome it.
ReplyDeleteAgreed both Starfleet Battles and Fasa books had a ground component, and one or two novels
Deletehad them over the years. Also in Deep Space Nine you saw them during the Dominion war, so if the existed later in the Trek time line why not earlier?