O’Brien is a “chief,” Jonas and Cutler hold the rank of “Crewman,” and I think those are the only enlisted personnel who have lines and appear in more than one episode. Starfleet seems ridiculously officer heavy.
Is the enlisted/officer distinction different in Starfleet from traditional armed forces? And where are all the warrant officers?
I remember mariner having a throwaway line in an LD episode about the Tech Services Academy being a way to join without having to go through the academy (the one where they’re stuck in the recruitment booth). Perhaps that would be the NCO route?
Sounds about right. Like a way for that to be a thing, but being way less common to go through that way, and probably most people who graduate from there perhaps go to certain planets / institutions that we’ve not seen much of.
There used to be two different levels of “schools” in the Finnish military as well, iirc, and the other one was a bit shorter and easier and often meant more as supporting training for the non-commissioned officers who stayed to work at the military after their conscription. You could only stay for a few years or so before you had to go to the Army Academy (Maasotakoulu), or apply to become a cadet in the The Finnish National Defence University (Maanpuolustuskorkeakoulu).
The latter being far more common.