Maybe The Reason The CMOs In TNG Have Some Command Training Is Because Of McCoy. Think About It, We Know

Maybe the reason the CMOs in TNG have some command training is because of McCoy.  Think about it, we know that later in life he is very involved in Starfleet Medical, eventually rising to the rank of Admiral, and that a textbook he writes is required reading for all medical students.  So, it goes to assume that he would have some power in shaping the future of the organization, and one of the policies he could have helped enact was that all future CMOs have some command training, based on his own experiences in space on that five year mission and beyond. 

listen all im saying is we get jims trauma and we get spocks trauma but…

bones was really, really traumatized by the five year mission too

there was a lot of things that happened to him. he was closer to death more times than the other two were. you could argue that he’s more or that he’s less equipped to handle those things than jim or spock are, but either way, it weighs on him.

we know this. he drinks heavily, more heavily than jim does. in high stress situations he picks at people – not just spock but everyone. when he feels like he’s failing he’s mean, to himself and to others, but especially to himself; he is willing to sacrifice himself not because of the good of the many or because he believes he owes it to the ship, or even really because he loves jim and spock (although i think all of those are true in his mind too), but because he would feel so damn guilty if someone else died. if another person died and he couldn’t save them. he thinks he is less deserving of life than anyone else on the ship and he blusters and covers it up and we ignore it but it’s true. spock and kirk, they know they’re valuable. they’re willing to sacrifice themselves because its the right thing. but bones will sacrifice himself because he believes there’s no other option, because he believes that his death is the only solution, the best solution.

that is not a well adjusted human being.

he is consistently driven to sickness, insanity, and in one notable instance, literally death. he is consistently given impossible tasks and impossible choices. he is not a command officer. he is not given command training. but the choices come down to him, and the only thing he can rely on is his ethics as a doctor, and first do no harm to others.

all im saying is… we’re really sleeping on this potential. we see it a lot in post-mirror fics, but i want some truly gorgeous fics like we get exploring spock and jims interiority (particularly in relationships or pre-relationships) with bones. he deserves it. he is just as complex and interesting as they are

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