The relationship of Captain Jellico and Commander Riker in Chain of Command is an example of a completely dysfunctional relationship between a Captain and his Executive Officer, with plenty of blame on both sides. However, Riker must have led a very sheltered life in Star Fleet indeed if Jellico was the worst commander he ever served under. Also, in a combat situation Riker was radiating to the crew that he didn’t trust their new captain. That alone should have landed him in front of a court martial. It could be argued that weakness, and forbearance, were Jellico’s main flaws as the top man, and not being a tyrant. At any rate, I recall these words from The Caine Mutiny that all junior officers should recall when dealing with a difficult CO:
You’re learning that you don’t work with a captain because you like the way he parts his hair; you work with him because he’s GOT the job, or you’re no good!
I’ve heard the gang at RedLetterMedia talk about those two. It seems to me like the scriptwriters thought that Jellico was completely in the right, but the acting and production were completely pro-Riker.
From a military standpoint nothing that Jellico requested was out of the ordinary. Sometimes people just take an instant dislike to each other, like two dogs who meet and immediately regard each other as a mortal enemy. That is when military formality needs to be adhered to. This “let’s put rank aside and have an honest man to man conversation” almost always ends badly in my experience. When you have to work with someone in close proximity, emotional distance is often a help.
The first person who asks to drop ranks loses. Every superior and subordinate know how to communicate respect or its absence.
I think that across the two episodes a lot of main characters undermine Jellico. I remember Troy as the worst, telling the rest of the crew that he doesn’t know what he’s doing based on her psychic reading of him. These are the popular characters, and they can’t get along with him, so he’s framed as the bad guy. But his strategy was on-target and he actually improved the day-to-day operations of the ship.
I personally don’t like Riker, thought, so I’m probably being biased in my reading of it.
I remember Troy as the worst, telling the rest of the crew that he doesn’t know what he’s doing based on her psychic reading of him.
He told her to put on a uniform. She did, she kept it on in later episodes and became more focused on her career as an officer. Our tougher bosses are often the ones we learn the most from.
The YouTube channel Military History Visualized has a video titled “German Army: Why No Collapse” covering unit cohesion. I would be interested in what people think about this video, and whether and/or how this applies to the Allied military forces.
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