Welcome to the Personnel File, where we look at the career of Star Trek’s characters
and the personalities that make these characters so beloved.
Today we’re accessing the history of Chief Miles Edward O’Brien.
But first a disclaimer.
There exists some discrepancy in the dates of certain canon events, such as the Setlik
III massacre, as such the timeline of Miles O’Brien is never explicitly set in stone,
so this is as close as I could get.
In addition to this, O’Brien’s rank is also experienced some fluctuation throughout
early TNG episodes so again, there are some rationalisations based on memory beta to account
for this.
Miles Edward O’Brien was born in Ireland in September of 2328 to Michael and Megan
O’Brien.
He had two siblings, Cully and Bill.
In his childhood years, his family pressured him into learning the cello as they had aspirations
for a future in the arts, specifically music.
(2345) At the age of 17 his family’s application to the Aldebaran Music Academy was accepted
and he was offered membership there.
Much to his father’s dismay, he declined the position and instead enlisted in Starfleet,
opting not to take an officer’s path at Star Fleet Academy, but instead training at
the Starfleet Technical Services Academy on Mars.
Specialising in various subjects, he began taking assignments and training roles on numerous
Starfleet vessels being placed on frequent rotations, as were many enlisted personnel.
In 2346 Miles was posted to the USS Rutledge NCC-57295, under the command of Captain Benjamin
Maxwell.
He was assigned the role of Jr Tactical officer.
A year into this assignment, the Cardassian Boarder Wars erupted.
2347: A Federation colony on Setlik III was nearing completion.
Faulty intelligence from the Cardassians led them to believe that it was the site for a
major Starfleet weapons depot led the CDS Lakar to attack the colony in what became
known as the bloody “Setlik III Massacre”.
The Event led to the deaths of hundreds of civilians and many who responded to its distress
call.
During the conflict, the USS Rutledge was the first ship to respond and beamed down
several personnel to assist in an evacuation.
The situation quickly went downhill however as the Cardassian forces greatly outnumbered
the Federations and they had already established the Barrica Military Encampment on the planet
stationed by an entire regiment.
During the conflict, O’Brien, at only 19, led the survivors to safety and made use of
emergency field transporters to extract 13 Starfleet personnel, saving their lives.
However, O’Brien lost several friends during the conflict including fellow Irishman, technician
Will Kayden.
Despite his apparent youth and the troubling circumstances under which he was plunged,
he retained a cool head and was dubbed by the Survivors the “Hero of Setlik III”.
This conflict was the first, but not the last time he would kill an enemy combatant.
Under War time doctrine, Captain Benjamin Maxwell promoted O’Brien, at the time still
a Crewman to full Tactical Officer, recognising his prowess at analytical thinking.
Throughout much of the Boarder Wars, O’Brien would serve in this position until the fighting
died down.
He was promoted to Petty Officer.
During this time he became proficient with Cardassian Technology.
In 2363, O’Brien’s position as chief tactical was removed (likely redistributed to an officer
of higher rank).
This may have coincided with Captain Maxwell’s reassignment to the USS Phoenix as it was
he who had controversially placed O’Brien in the position usually retained for a full
lieutenant.
Early in 2364 O’Brien transferred to the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D, Starfleet’s Flagship
vessel, and promoted from Petty Officer to Chief Petty Officer.
As an enlisted officer, his role was more flexible and he was cycled through postings
such as Conn and Security.
He was 36 at the time and had therefore spent most of his adult life as a soldier during
the Boarder War.
Sometime in 2365, He was awarded a field promotion to Lieutenant.
Not long after, O’Brien transferred divisions from Tactical to Operations and began to assume
a number of more engineering based roles.
On Zayra IV he conducted repairs on an emitter array infested with Talarian Hook Spiders.
Eventually utilising his familiarity with transporters, he secured the Transporter Chief
position in the USS Enterprise.
In October 2367, he married Keiko Ishikawa.
Later that year he encountered his former captain, Benjamin Maxwell during the Phoenix
incident where Captain Maxwell learned of a Cardassian military staging ground near
Federation space and sought to expose it.
His actions were condemned by Starfleet who was attempting to form a truce with Cardassia
at the time.
2368, his daughter, Molly O’Brien was born.
On the same day he aided in averting the destruction of the USS Enterprise after it had collided
with a quantum filament.
Later that year his temporary position as Lieutenant was rescinded in place of a new
opportunity.
In 2369, O’Brien accepted a true promotion from Chief Petty Officer to Senior Chief Petty
Officer and reassignment to Deep Space Nine as Chief of Operations.
At this time it had been 22 years since Setlik III but his extensive experience with Cardassian
technology made him perfect for the role.
He was instrumental in allowing the former Cardassian Mining Station to break orbit from
Bajor and secure the Alpha-Gamma quadrant Wormhole.
2369: Miles O’Brien suffers an official Reprimand for violating the Prime Directive
and aiding a Gamma Quadrant prey species called the Tosk evade its pursuers.
In 2370 O’Brien was replaced by a Paradan Replicant with orders to disrupt the peace
talks being held on DS9.
The real O’Brien was recovered by Rebel forces days later.
Later that same year, he was accused and acquitted by the Cardassian Union of aiding the Marquis.
In 2371 He was technically killed in action during an incident where he was displaced
in time by 1 hour, but his future self survived.
In this year he underwent humeral socket replacement surgery after a shoulder injury.
He was sentenced to 20 years of virtual prison on Argratha where he experienced this time
in mere hours.
This had long term psychological effects on him as he acclimated to the real world.
By the year 2372 He had served on at least six Starfleet vessels including the USS Defiant,
the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D, the USS Rutledge and several more, likely during his time as
a crewman.
A year later, his second child was born, involving an unusual medical transfer Kirayoshi.
2373 During the opening of the Dominion War, he alongside Lt. Cmdr.
Jadzia Dax and Technician Rom created the Self-Replicating Minefield.
In 2374, his expertise was once again called into action by the hands of Starfleet Intelligence
who had need of a person outside of SFI with extensive combat and engineering experience.
2374 Saw the completion of the Klingon Allied mission to destroy the Monac Shipyards.
In 2375 he received a second reprimand for going AWOL to assist the widow of his former
friend, Liam Bilby.
After the conclusion of the Dominion War he was offered the position of Professor of Optronic
Systems Engineering at Starfleet Academy and accepted the teaching role, relocating with
his family to Earth.
Throughout his life, Miles O’Brien has shown favouritism for intricate work, learning an
instrument, building ships in bottles as well as other model building has demonstrated a
high level of hand eye coordination.
It is this technical challenge that motivates him to complete these tasks more than the
love of the arts themselves, as can be seen by his opting to refute a career as a musician,
despite his obvious talent for it.
This applied to cooking, often sourcing the ingredients himself and preparing dishes with
non-replicated ingredients when available, just as had been done in his family for years.
He had many hobbies throughout his life, most involved high levels of hand eye coordination,
like darts, building models (as mentioned) and playing an instrument but he often could
be seen trying out new hobbies frequently.
This occurred most after he formed his strong friendship with Julian Bashir who was 13 years
his junior and the two of them engaged in numerous sports such as racquetball.
Though Miles’ love of Kayaking preceded most of these.
He shows a strong distaste for murder in any form, self-defence or not.
This stems back to his early involvement with the Boarder Wars where he has stated that
he hated what he became because of the Cardassians.
Conversely, that conflict is a recurring part of his life persisting throughout several
of the Federation’s bloodiest wars and as Garak has pointed out, he spends much of his
time in the holosuites re-enacting ancient battles from Earth’s history.
Whether he would admit it or not, he seems to enjoy high pressure situations such as
those found in major conflicts but a strong moral centre and sense of right ensures that
any sense of fun deriving from conflict, never extends to the brutal acts of actual killing.
In fact his career path could be seen to have been influenced by this moral centre at odds
with his proficiency at tactical combat and a sense of duty.
After his actions as Tactical Officer aboard the Rutledge, he applied for and was accepted
aboard the Enterprise, but why?
His duties and responsibilities were clearly reduced because of it.
Well, for a start, he had probably had enough of war and with the fighting along the Cardassian
Boarder dying down; he saw it as a lessening of his obligations to fight.
With the end in sight, it was time he sought new pastures.
The USS Enterprise represented the Starfleet ideal, exploration and diplomacy, the ideals
he had been fighting to uphold in a very literal sense.
It was the Flagship and a posting there was coveted by many.
And let’s not forget, the Enterprise-D was a galaxy class starship, meaning that it provided
means to support a family while being on mission, after all, it was here that he married Keiko
and started his family.
And family is the most important thing.
Accepting a posting on DS9 continued this trend of providing a safe environment for
his family, after all, the Enterprise, galaxy class or not, was still a starship in deep
space and often a high deal of risk was involved, so it made sense to accept the transfer a
few years after the birth of Molly.
Plus it was a good fit for his skill set.
A recurring theme with O’Brien is how respect is earned regardless of rank.
Starting with his promotion to tactical officer at such a young age, no doubt surpassing other
qualified individuals of officer status, he proves that if the right people are watching,
merit alone can earn responsibility.
When he was reassigned to the Enterprise, his level of duty was reduced sure, but he
was more focused on building a family for himself before moving onto Deep Space Nine.
It’s here that we see that he was the perfect man for the job and technically as a non-commissioned
officer even an Ensign outranks him, he is often given operative authority on specific
missions as well as a high degree of respect when voicing his opinion, again showing the
experience and talent build merit.
Further reflection of this respect is earned mentality can be seen with his dismissal of
terms such as Sir, simply preferring to be addressed as Chief, though his humility means
that he addresses others properly.
This ties in strongly with his aversion to violence as the title “the Hero of Setlik
III” clearly makes him uncomfortable.
However, he does seem to romanticise the idea of battle with notions such as honour and
glory, as seen by his holosuite choices.
After all, he has a very strong sense of duty, placing great value on loyalty and commitment,
but he has seen war first hand and knows there’s a clear dividing line between the two.
Overall, O’brien has suffered through a lot but in many ways represents what would
be a more common approach to a Starfleet career, despite his heroic origins, he was frequently
reassigned and placed in situations where he could perform well when needed and his
sense of obligation and loyalty kept him there.
His days as a soldier ended when he made the decision to settle down and he almost passed
into obscurity.
In many ways, it wasn’t until much later in his life, when he seemed to be building
his own future with his family, that events on the career path opened up for him again
and he found his fit on Deep Space Nine.
Thanks for watching this Personnel file.
O’Brien is often an underappreciated character and its quite easy to miss those handful of
episodes that hint at a far more violent past than the humble family-man engineer we see
in DS9.
Some good O’Brien centric episodes from TNG include “Empok Nor”, “Honor Among
Thieves”, and “The Wounded”, although there are a ton of others, mostly found in
Deep Space Nine.
You’ll have to excuse my voice, I’m only now starting to regain it so thanks for watching
again, I appreciate it.
I’ve been Ric and Ill see you next time, goodbye.