Once again, I invoke the endless debate! What division would you say each Captain was? Provide support for your suppositions.
Johnathan Archer
Tactical - I consider there to be two distinct paths in the Tactical division. One is Security, who wear red, the other is Command and Control, who wear gold. Archer was clearly a pilot, as depicted in more than one episode. He clearly has engineering skills, but this would be necessary for him to be a Commanding Officer. Presumably, these sorts of things are taught during Command School, as we saw Counselor Troi learning that sort of thing in order to be promoted.
James Kirk
Tactical - As with Archer, Kirk wears gold, the sign of a Command and Control Officer. We saw Captains wearing divisional colours, so we know that an officer retains his division colour at Captain rank. If Kirk was an Engineer, he would have worn red with Captain's braid. Further, he tells the Organians he's a soldier. Finally, he has little trouble fighting, either on a ship, or in person.
Jean-Luc Picard
Science - By TNG, we know officers change to red when they reach a command POSITION, though not necessarily a command rank (Troi and Crusher were both Commanders wearing blue). We saw Data switch to red under Captain Jellicoe. In Tapestry, we saw Picard in two different colours. White, as a cadet, indicating command. However, he also wore blue, indicating a Science Officer. Further, we know Picard studied Archaeology in his youth under Dr. Galen. We've also seen him demonstrate other scientific knowledge. His first assignment was reportedly as helmsman of the Stargazer, which would be in line with Command and Control, but then, we saw Geordie at the helm in the first season, wearing Red. This suggests that officers trained in other departments could be assigned to C&C, and that they would wear the colour of THAT department, rather than their own. If this policy was in effect when Picard graduated it would explain why he was wearing white at that time.
Benjamin Sisko
Tactical - Certainly he has extensive technical knowledge, as he was involved in the construction of Defiant, but we rarely saw him do anything technical. Further, we saw that he was more than capable as a soldier. I mean, he punched Q! Definitely someone who is trained to fight.
Kathryn Janeway
Science - I don't know which episode it was, but I understand it's well established she was a Science Officer.
I think Archer is a little harder to pin down as to whether what "profession" he would fit under, partly because I don't know if the writers understood him. Kirk and Picard were definately explorers, and the writers for DS9 often described Sisko as "the builder." Considering the premise of Enterprise, it seems that Archer should have been the "pioneer," the guy blazing the trails that Pike, Kirk, and Picard would later follow, not to mention building the foundations for the Federation. I don't think the writers understood that. As for being a Tactical captain; I'm not so sure about that. Although he would have his moments, and I'm no strategist, but some of Archer's tactics both in space battles and ground fights, had me scratching my head.
I agree that Kirk was a Tactical Captain through and through; episodes like the "Corbormite Maneuver" and "Balance of Terror" do showcase Kirk's abilities to strategize and come up with cunning plans to outmaneuver his enemies, although these days (and probably in universe as well), Kirk's best known for being an "unconventional" captain who was quick with his phasers, even quicker with his fists, and seduced every woman he came across. To memory, there are very few times in TOS, if ever, that we ever saw Kirk dabbling in either engineering or scientific matters; more often than not, that was left to Scott and Spock, respectively (and sometimes at once).
Again, I agree with this; Picard always had an interest in archeology, and always showed intense interest in whatever anomoly, nebula, or unexplored planet that the crew came across.
This suggests that officers trained in other departments could be assigned to C&C, and that they would wear the colour of THAT department, rather than their own.
It was always my understanding that uniform color corresponded to the department someone was assigned to, not neccessarily to their training. Granted, someone working in Security (Red in ENT/TOS, Gold in TNG/DS9/VOY) better be trained in that field, though considering how many red/gold shirts are offed during all the series, one wonders.
Benjamin Sisko
Tactical - Certainly he has extensive technical knowledge, as he was involved in the construction of Defiant, but we rarely saw him do anything technical. Further, we saw that he was more than capable as a soldier. I mean, he punched Q! Definitely someone who is trained to fight.
I disagree here; yes, he's a capable soldier, but then, one would expect (and hope) a Starfleet officer would be trained in both tactics and especially hand-to-hand combat, just as modern soldiers are today. But I think it's very clear that Sisko's real passion was engineering; when DS9 began, Sisko had just been transfered from the Utopia Planetia Shipyards, a fairly prestigous posting just below serving on the Enterprise if there ever was one, and where he was involved in the project that developed the Defiant. There are several moments where we do see him getting "technical" - in "Civil Defense," we see him reconfigure the station's shields by himself, and in "Blaze of Glory," we see him again crawling around a runabout Jefferies tube modifying the engines. Prehaps most tellingly, we see him build a Bajoran Solar Sailer in "Explorers" from the ground up. If that doesn't scream "Engineer," than nothing does.
I think the reason we rarely saw Sisko mucking about in the innards of either Deep Space Nine or the Defiant is because 1) the series was become more action oriented than either of its predecessors, and 2) Sisko's job on that station was to be the commander; which meant he dealt a lot in the administraion of a major trading hub/military outpost, not to mention dealing with a rather precarious diplomatic situation. I think his dealings with some of the more "uncooperative" station residents and neighbors - especially his dealings with Vedek, later Kai, Winn - show he was a crafty diplomat. Again, I attribute this to his training at the Academy - yes, he majored in engineering, but I strongly believe Starfleet Academy stresses that their graduates are trained in various other fields than their specialty, including diplomacy and tactics.
Kathryn Janeway
Science - I don't know which episode it was, but I understand it's well established she was a Science Officer.
I believe it was the pilot where she mentions serving as the science officer of the USS Al-Batani under Tom Paris' father. And I agree that Janeway was a scientist by profession; although not having watched Voyager all the way through, I couldn't give you specifics to prove that (although, from what I read, as with ArcherI don't think the writers knew what to do with her, either).
Keeping in mind that STO has pigeon holed people into these roles as people dont always tend to be one thing or the other. for arguments sake most of these have a primary focus and then a secondary one they have learned.
Archer - Tactical. he never really showed much interest in science or engineering and you dont choose someone without a bit of steal to go into deep space for your entire race.
Kirk - Tactical with some engineering. He apparently new a huge amount of technical stuff.
Picard - Scientist first then gained a bit of tactical as he did spend some time as a pilot, and invented the picard manourve, you dont get that from studying fossils.
Sisko - Engineer first but became very tactical
Janeway - mainly a Scientist and a bit of engineering thrown in.
As I said, you may specialize in a specific field while studying at Starfleet Acadamy, but you are also taught other things as well. I seriously doubt, even in a modern military, that you want soldiers who are "stuck" in one career field.
Are we talking purely background, or how they functioned as a Captain? The two can be quite different.
Archer- Tactical/Engineer- A bit of a special case, because in the early days, it seems that Starfleet functioned a lot more like NASA than how we come to see it function. NASA gets most of its astronauts from the Air Force, the most technical branch of the military. The Air Force has Pilots and everyone else. If your not a Pilot, you're basically doing something technical.
Archer was definitely a Pilot, but he was the son of an engineer. Even if he wasn't technically trained, you do see from time to time that he seems to have an understanding of how stuff works on the ship. I see Archer as a Pilot with an interest (if not formal training) in engineering.
Kirk - Tactical. Kirk displayed strong leadership skills early on. Even if it isn't established, to my knowledge, I see Kirk as manning the weapons console before he got his own command. While Archer seemed to know what Trip was talking about, Kirk always seemed on the verge of saying "We look for things. Things to make us go," whenever Scotty was trying to explain something technical to him.
Perhaps one could argue that Kirk was a Scientist with specific interest in Xenobiology. Even more specifically, the mating habits of Alien Females.
Picard - Scientist I'm pretty sure it was established that he was a trained Archeologist. If not trained, he certainly had a strong interest in it. In the episode where his replacement heart went out, Q showed him what his life would have been like had he not taken certain risks. He wears a blue uniform in the "alternate" timeline. Though this is not reality, it's based on who Picard was. If he wasn't wearing red, he'd be wearing blue/teal.
Sisko - Engineer It's pretty well established he liked to build things. He worked on the Defiant. You could argue, as I don't think it was specified what he did exactly, that his work was on the weapons systems or just to provide a tactical insight into how to build it. Though, the building of the Solar Flyer seems to point more to general Engineering expertise than specific weapons/tactical expertise.
The thing about Tactical training is that unlike Engineering training or Science training, some people can do well without it, if they have the right personality, and in some cases, luck. Engineering and Science require a lot of learned facts and understanding of how things work, whereas some people just have natural leadership skills that can't be taught. To me, Sisko fits this category. He had the personality to not crack under the pressure and the leadership skills to make others believe in him and follow his lead. Though, I'm sure all Starfleet personnel in the command division have some tactical training, Sisko seems to be an engineer first.
Janeway - Scientist It's established she was a Science Officer before becoming a Captain. Furthermore, the writers seemed to keep that in mind throughout the series. While Picard's love of archeology and Sisko's love of building things is shown from time to time, Janeway's Scientific background is highlighted a lot more often. I can recall a few times when the solution to a problem that would normally come from "the Engineer" came from Janeway instead. Though, it fell to B'Elanna to figure out just how to make the ship do what Janeway wanted.
I also seem to recall a conversations she had that highlighted her fascination with nebulae and other phenomenon. Of all the Captains, Janeway's background seems to show through the most.
Of course, that's trying to put them all in game terms. I don't see Starfleet as working that way. You have your Engineers and various Scientist/Doctors, but Command is more about leadership than tactical ability. The game could have had more divisions, but I think they wanted to make it simple and follow the three colours established on screen. (some say four, but it's debated.)
From the show perspective, I see the red uniforms used for characters that don't fit as an Engineer/Science/Doctor more so than a proper "Command Divison." LaForge wore red in the first season, even though his background was Engineering because he was assigned to the helm. Though, I doubt he was being groomed for command at the time. It seems more likely that they used the red "Command" uniforms so that they didn't just have Picard and Riker in red. Same thing with Worf, since he was just a "background character" at first. It wasn't until he was established as a Security Officer that he switched to the Gold worn by that division.
Archer and Kirk are like today's line officers...the jack of all trades, master of none, except when it comes to tactical. They are educated in enough engineering and science to get them by, but they often refer to the respective officers in those fields to come up with the answers. They just have the ability to tie all the different pieces together to make it work in a master plan.
Picard was certainly science/engineering in my book. Riker was more the tactical out of the duo, as can be seen in the fact that Riker was usually the one on the bridge handling stuff in space while Picard was out checking some odd rock formation. If anything, Picard was ground tac, Riker space tac. Riker is more like the Archer/Kirk line officer type as well, and Picard would often refer to him and Worf for space tactical advice.
Sisko is engineering, but as others point out, goes more tac because of his position and what he has to deal with. Though, I think he is more tac that went engineering, but reverts back to tac because the situation called for it, which is why they put him there.
Janeway is a woman. She just thinks she can do it all without a man's help.
Commander is the highest rank an officer can attain without switching to the Command branch. That became clear to me in an episode of DS9, where Sisko and Eddington had a conversation about it. That´s the reason why Beverly Crusher and Deanna Troi never wore red, they weren´t part of the Command branch.
Though, I think he is more tac that went engineering, but reverts back to tac because the situation called for it, which is why they put him there.
Sisko got the job because no one else wanted it. Remember, at first, DS9 was an out of the way, low priority command. Anyone that wanted to get ahead in Starfleet wanted a higher profile assignment. Everyone with seniority declined the command of DS9 because it was thought of as a "dead end" job. Sisko took it because he decided a command of any kind was an opportunity he couldn't pass up.
It turned out he was the Emissary and all that. By the time of the Dominion War, he had proved himself to Startfleet enough, and the Bajorians were adamant he was the one to lead them, what with being their "hotline" to the Prophets.
In actuality a Starship Captain would be all 3, but relies heavily on the officers. Kirk relied on Scotty and Spock, Janeway relied on Tuvok and Be'Lanna, Sisko relied...well...Mostly on Dax, and a little Kira...then later Worf.
But in each on their own....
Archer I think mostly Tac, Kirk, mostly Tac, Janeway, Mostly Sci...and Sisko more then likely Tac...
In general...it's hard to nail down a specific STO path for any of them, because they all have aspects of each.
Like in SWG...we used to have debates on what each primary character would be. I finally decided they would all be template stacking exploiters...because there's no way that they could be THAT good at everything they did, and still have legit builds in the game.
Commander is the highest rank an officer can attain without switching to the Command branch. That became clear to me in an episode of DS9, where Sisko and Eddington had a conversation about it. That´s the reason why Beverly Crusher and Deanna Troi never wore red, they weren´t part of the Command branch.
Scotty was promoted to Captain of Engineering on the Excelsior in Star Trek III.....Wore Captain's bars and everything....Plus Spock was a Captain as well.
As of Star Trek V, The Enterprise had 3 Captains....Kirk (after Demotion in IV), Spock (Moved back to Science after handing over command to Kirk in TWOK), and Scotty (retained rank after being reassigned to the Ent-A).
Commander is the highest rank an officer can attain without switching to the Command branch. That became clear to me in an episode of DS9, where Sisko and Eddington had a conversation about it. That´s the reason why Beverly Crusher and Deanna Troi never wore red, they weren´t part of the Command branch.
Actually that may as much be a function of availability of postings as much as anything.
If Starfleet operates in any way like say the modern US Navy every Ship's Captain position is pretty much required to have a Command Branch person. This would be the same as an "Unrestricted Line Offficer" in the US Navy. They are expected to be able to be in charge anywhere,and knowledgable about all aspects of command onboard and off a ship.
Commander may simply be the last rank where you could easily find duty assignments in a specific field.
For example: A restricted line officer in the modern US Navy includes Information Warfare....the Navy has a few locations dedicated to this job that require a Captain rank to run them. An IW Captain could ONLY command there (or maybe serve on an Admiral's Staff) whereas the Unrestricted Line Officer could command there or onboard a ship etc.
So it just may be that if you stay in a "specialists" position past Commander your shooting your promotion prospects in the foot.
Ummm oh yeah the topic....
Archer Tactical with Eng degree.
Kirk Tactical with Degree InterSpecies Relations
Picard Tactical with degree in Archeology
Sisko Engineer with switch to Command
Janeway Science with switch to Command
and Dammit as long as I'm in charge of the ship ..I'm in COMMAND
I'd agree with you aside from Archer. He strikes me as an Engineer because he talks shop to a degree with Trip, with aliens and occasionally will fly the ship or shuttle.
Sisko got the job because no one else wanted it. Remember, at first, DS9 was an out of the way, low priority command. Anyone that wanted to get ahead in Starfleet wanted a higher profile assignment. Everyone with seniority declined the command of DS9 because it was thought of as a "dead end" job. Sisko took it because he decided a command of any kind was an opportunity he couldn't pass up.
I think you're getting Sisko confused with Babylon 5's Ambassador Mollari. There's no indication that Deep Space 9 was a "backwater" assignment. Yes, it was going to be a difficult job, what with Bajor (not to mention the station) in ruins, the Bajorans about ready tear each other apart, and Cardassia more than willing to come back in and re-occupy their former holdings (and possibly wipe out the entire Bajoran race as retaliation for throwing them out the first time). But I don't recall Sisko being chosen due to anything other than maybe a random pool. In fact, in the pilot, Sisko was seriously considering resigning from Starfleet at the time of his assignment; it was only due to the intervention of the Prophets (showing him he was trying to run away from the pain of losing his first wife) that he decided otherwise.
In Babylon 5, Londo Mollari was assigned to the titular station because no one else wanted the job. Most of the Centauri (the race Londo came from) of any importance considered the project a joke, and Londo was basically a nobody who folks knew would obey out of his strong sense of duty - not that Londo liked it (at first).
Comments
I think Archer is a little harder to pin down as to whether what "profession" he would fit under, partly because I don't know if the writers understood him. Kirk and Picard were definately explorers, and the writers for DS9 often described Sisko as "the builder." Considering the premise of Enterprise, it seems that Archer should have been the "pioneer," the guy blazing the trails that Pike, Kirk, and Picard would later follow, not to mention building the foundations for the Federation. I don't think the writers understood that. As for being a Tactical captain; I'm not so sure about that. Although he would have his moments, and I'm no strategist, but some of Archer's tactics both in space battles and ground fights, had me scratching my head.
I agree that Kirk was a Tactical Captain through and through; episodes like the "Corbormite Maneuver" and "Balance of Terror" do showcase Kirk's abilities to strategize and come up with cunning plans to outmaneuver his enemies, although these days (and probably in universe as well), Kirk's best known for being an "unconventional" captain who was quick with his phasers, even quicker with his fists, and seduced every woman he came across. To memory, there are very few times in TOS, if ever, that we ever saw Kirk dabbling in either engineering or scientific matters; more often than not, that was left to Scott and Spock, respectively (and sometimes at once).
Again, I agree with this; Picard always had an interest in archeology, and always showed intense interest in whatever anomoly, nebula, or unexplored planet that the crew came across.
It was always my understanding that uniform color corresponded to the department someone was assigned to, not neccessarily to their training. Granted, someone working in Security (Red in ENT/TOS, Gold in TNG/DS9/VOY) better be trained in that field, though considering how many red/gold shirts are offed during all the series, one wonders.
I disagree here; yes, he's a capable soldier, but then, one would expect (and hope) a Starfleet officer would be trained in both tactics and especially hand-to-hand combat, just as modern soldiers are today. But I think it's very clear that Sisko's real passion was engineering; when DS9 began, Sisko had just been transfered from the Utopia Planetia Shipyards, a fairly prestigous posting just below serving on the Enterprise if there ever was one, and where he was involved in the project that developed the Defiant. There are several moments where we do see him getting "technical" - in "Civil Defense," we see him reconfigure the station's shields by himself, and in "Blaze of Glory," we see him again crawling around a runabout Jefferies tube modifying the engines. Prehaps most tellingly, we see him build a Bajoran Solar Sailer in "Explorers" from the ground up. If that doesn't scream "Engineer," than nothing does.
I think the reason we rarely saw Sisko mucking about in the innards of either Deep Space Nine or the Defiant is because 1) the series was become more action oriented than either of its predecessors, and 2) Sisko's job on that station was to be the commander; which meant he dealt a lot in the administraion of a major trading hub/military outpost, not to mention dealing with a rather precarious diplomatic situation. I think his dealings with some of the more "uncooperative" station residents and neighbors - especially his dealings with Vedek, later Kai, Winn - show he was a crafty diplomat. Again, I attribute this to his training at the Academy - yes, he majored in engineering, but I strongly believe Starfleet Academy stresses that their graduates are trained in various other fields than their specialty, including diplomacy and tactics.
I believe it was the pilot where she mentions serving as the science officer of the USS Al-Batani under Tom Paris' father. And I agree that Janeway was a scientist by profession; although not having watched Voyager all the way through, I couldn't give you specifics to prove that (although, from what I read, as with ArcherI don't think the writers knew what to do with her, either).
Archer - Tactical. he never really showed much interest in science or engineering and you dont choose someone without a bit of steal to go into deep space for your entire race.
Kirk - Tactical with some engineering. He apparently new a huge amount of technical stuff.
Picard - Scientist first then gained a bit of tactical as he did spend some time as a pilot, and invented the picard manourve, you dont get that from studying fossils.
Sisko - Engineer first but became very tactical
Janeway - mainly a Scientist and a bit of engineering thrown in.
Archer- Tactical/Engineer- A bit of a special case, because in the early days, it seems that Starfleet functioned a lot more like NASA than how we come to see it function. NASA gets most of its astronauts from the Air Force, the most technical branch of the military. The Air Force has Pilots and everyone else. If your not a Pilot, you're basically doing something technical.
Archer was definitely a Pilot, but he was the son of an engineer. Even if he wasn't technically trained, you do see from time to time that he seems to have an understanding of how stuff works on the ship. I see Archer as a Pilot with an interest (if not formal training) in engineering.
Kirk - Tactical. Kirk displayed strong leadership skills early on. Even if it isn't established, to my knowledge, I see Kirk as manning the weapons console before he got his own command. While Archer seemed to know what Trip was talking about, Kirk always seemed on the verge of saying "We look for things. Things to make us go," whenever Scotty was trying to explain something technical to him.
Perhaps one could argue that Kirk was a Scientist with specific interest in Xenobiology. Even more specifically, the mating habits of Alien Females.
Picard - Scientist I'm pretty sure it was established that he was a trained Archeologist. If not trained, he certainly had a strong interest in it. In the episode where his replacement heart went out, Q showed him what his life would have been like had he not taken certain risks. He wears a blue uniform in the "alternate" timeline. Though this is not reality, it's based on who Picard was. If he wasn't wearing red, he'd be wearing blue/teal.
Sisko - Engineer It's pretty well established he liked to build things. He worked on the Defiant. You could argue, as I don't think it was specified what he did exactly, that his work was on the weapons systems or just to provide a tactical insight into how to build it. Though, the building of the Solar Flyer seems to point more to general Engineering expertise than specific weapons/tactical expertise.
The thing about Tactical training is that unlike Engineering training or Science training, some people can do well without it, if they have the right personality, and in some cases, luck. Engineering and Science require a lot of learned facts and understanding of how things work, whereas some people just have natural leadership skills that can't be taught. To me, Sisko fits this category. He had the personality to not crack under the pressure and the leadership skills to make others believe in him and follow his lead. Though, I'm sure all Starfleet personnel in the command division have some tactical training, Sisko seems to be an engineer first.
Janeway - Scientist It's established she was a Science Officer before becoming a Captain. Furthermore, the writers seemed to keep that in mind throughout the series. While Picard's love of archeology and Sisko's love of building things is shown from time to time, Janeway's Scientific background is highlighted a lot more often. I can recall a few times when the solution to a problem that would normally come from "the Engineer" came from Janeway instead. Though, it fell to B'Elanna to figure out just how to make the ship do what Janeway wanted.
I also seem to recall a conversations she had that highlighted her fascination with nebulae and other phenomenon. Of all the Captains, Janeway's background seems to show through the most.
Of course, that's trying to put them all in game terms. I don't see Starfleet as working that way. You have your Engineers and various Scientist/Doctors, but Command is more about leadership than tactical ability. The game could have had more divisions, but I think they wanted to make it simple and follow the three colours established on screen. (some say four, but it's debated.)
From the show perspective, I see the red uniforms used for characters that don't fit as an Engineer/Science/Doctor more so than a proper "Command Divison." LaForge wore red in the first season, even though his background was Engineering because he was assigned to the helm. Though, I doubt he was being groomed for command at the time. It seems more likely that they used the red "Command" uniforms so that they didn't just have Picard and Riker in red. Same thing with Worf, since he was just a "background character" at first. It wasn't until he was established as a Security Officer that he switched to the Gold worn by that division.
Picard was certainly science/engineering in my book. Riker was more the tactical out of the duo, as can be seen in the fact that Riker was usually the one on the bridge handling stuff in space while Picard was out checking some odd rock formation. If anything, Picard was ground tac, Riker space tac. Riker is more like the Archer/Kirk line officer type as well, and Picard would often refer to him and Worf for space tactical advice.
Sisko is engineering, but as others point out, goes more tac because of his position and what he has to deal with. Though, I think he is more tac that went engineering, but reverts back to tac because the situation called for it, which is why they put him there.
Janeway is a woman. She just thinks she can do it all without a man's help.
Sisko got the job because no one else wanted it. Remember, at first, DS9 was an out of the way, low priority command. Anyone that wanted to get ahead in Starfleet wanted a higher profile assignment. Everyone with seniority declined the command of DS9 because it was thought of as a "dead end" job. Sisko took it because he decided a command of any kind was an opportunity he couldn't pass up.
It turned out he was the Emissary and all that. By the time of the Dominion War, he had proved himself to Startfleet enough, and the Bajorians were adamant he was the one to lead them, what with being their "hotline" to the Prophets.
But in each on their own....
Archer I think mostly Tac, Kirk, mostly Tac, Janeway, Mostly Sci...and Sisko more then likely Tac...
In general...it's hard to nail down a specific STO path for any of them, because they all have aspects of each.
Like in SWG...we used to have debates on what each primary character would be. I finally decided they would all be template stacking exploiters...because there's no way that they could be THAT good at everything they did, and still have legit builds in the game.
Scotty was promoted to Captain of Engineering on the Excelsior in Star Trek III.....Wore Captain's bars and everything....Plus Spock was a Captain as well.
As of Star Trek V, The Enterprise had 3 Captains....Kirk (after Demotion in IV), Spock (Moved back to Science after handing over command to Kirk in TWOK), and Scotty (retained rank after being reassigned to the Ent-A).
Actually that may as much be a function of availability of postings as much as anything.
If Starfleet operates in any way like say the modern US Navy every Ship's Captain position is pretty much required to have a Command Branch person. This would be the same as an "Unrestricted Line Offficer" in the US Navy. They are expected to be able to be in charge anywhere,and knowledgable about all aspects of command onboard and off a ship.
Commander may simply be the last rank where you could easily find duty assignments in a specific field.
For example: A restricted line officer in the modern US Navy includes Information Warfare....the Navy has a few locations dedicated to this job that require a Captain rank to run them. An IW Captain could ONLY command there (or maybe serve on an Admiral's Staff) whereas the Unrestricted Line Officer could command there or onboard a ship etc.
So it just may be that if you stay in a "specialists" position past Commander your shooting your promotion prospects in the foot.
Ummm oh yeah the topic....
Archer Tactical with Eng degree.
Kirk Tactical with Degree InterSpecies Relations
Picard Tactical with degree in Archeology
Sisko Engineer with switch to Command
Janeway Science with switch to Command
and Dammit as long as I'm in charge of the ship ..I'm in COMMAND
I think you're getting Sisko confused with Babylon 5's Ambassador Mollari. There's no indication that Deep Space 9 was a "backwater" assignment. Yes, it was going to be a difficult job, what with Bajor (not to mention the station) in ruins, the Bajorans about ready tear each other apart, and Cardassia more than willing to come back in and re-occupy their former holdings (and possibly wipe out the entire Bajoran race as retaliation for throwing them out the first time). But I don't recall Sisko being chosen due to anything other than maybe a random pool. In fact, in the pilot, Sisko was seriously considering resigning from Starfleet at the time of his assignment; it was only due to the intervention of the Prophets (showing him he was trying to run away from the pain of losing his first wife) that he decided otherwise.
In Babylon 5, Londo Mollari was assigned to the titular station because no one else wanted the job. Most of the Centauri (the race Londo came from) of any importance considered the project a joke, and Londo was basically a nobody who folks knew would obey out of his strong sense of duty - not that Londo liked it (at first).