# What would Vulcan Navy Seals/SAS look like? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 4, 2015, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-vulcan-navy-seals-sas-look-like/733448 "2015-10-04T00:34:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-vulcan-navy-seals-sas-look-like/733448/1 "2015-10-04T00:34:39Z")
Does the planet Vulcan even have a specifically military wing? What would a space ship full of Vulcan super soldiers look like? How would they fight, what would their tactics be, what would their attitude be? Would they rely more on stealth and cunning and using the opponents strength against him? Or would they be more like a SWAT team? ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-vulcan-navy-seals-sas-look-like/733448/2 "2015-10-04T01:32:36Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > Does the planet Vulcan even have a specifically military wing? What would a space ship full of Vulcan super soldiers look like? How would they fight, what would their tactics be, what would their attitude be? > > Would they rely more on stealth and cunning and using the opponents strength against him? Or would they be more like a SWAT team? Probably a heavy emphasis on snipers, for one thing. Taking out the enemy before they see you seems pretty logical. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-vulcan-navy-seals-sas-look-like/733448/3 "2015-10-04T01:40:28Z")
A clue might be gotten from Scots soldiers and units throughout history: highly educated, incredibly highly motivated, with nigh-unbreakable morale, and, best of all, they usually had a good reason to fight. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-vulcan-navy-seals-sas-look-like/733448/4 "2015-10-04T01:54:32Z")
I’d like to see a unit like this in the Mirror Universe. They’d be the shock troops of the Empire. ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-vulcan-navy-seals-sas-look-like/733448/5 "2015-10-04T01:57:32Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I’d like to see a unit like this in the Mirror Universe. They’d be the shock troops of the Empire. The Mirror Universe from TOS? Or was it also in other series? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-vulcan-navy-seals-sas-look-like/733448/6 "2015-10-04T02:11:53Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > The Mirror Universe from TOS? Or was it also in other series? The Mirror Universe also shows up in DS9 (by which time the Federation analog is toast, thanks to our Kirk) and in ENTERPRISE (during which time Vulcans are a conquered people). ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-vulcan-navy-seals-sas-look-like/733448/7 "2015-10-04T02:14:05Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > The Mirror Universe also shows up in DS9 (by which time the Federation analog is toast, thanks to our Kirk) and in ENTERPRISE (during which time Vulcans are a conquered people). Cool I’ll probably start a thread in a few days about how lousy Enterprise was. It seems few people liked it. I only got through 4 or 5 episodes. Did you like it? I am halfway through DS9 season 2 and thus far it is my favorite series, after, TOS. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-vulcan-navy-seals-sas-look-like/733448/8 "2015-10-04T02:42:46Z")
I only saw one episode of Enterprise: it was the one where a couple of rogue Feringhi sneak aboard, put everyone (save one guy) into stasis, and start to ransack the ship. It was actually a pretty good bit of space/ST drama. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-vulcan-navy-seals-sas-look-like/733448/9 "2015-10-04T02:43:46Z")
(Prime and movie-verse) Vulcans are…theoretically…pacifists. In the same sense that they’re theoretically ruled purely by logic, to be sure, but they wouldn’t have a military as such, let alone special forces. ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-vulcan-navy-seals-sas-look-like/733448/10 "2015-10-04T02:45:45Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > (Prime and movie-verse) Vulcans are…theoretically…pacifists. In the same sense that they’re theoretically ruled purely by logic, to be sure, but they wouldn’t have a military as such, let alone special forces. Ah, ok, good answer, that was the kind of answer I was looking for. But… they don’t have a military? What do they do if attacked? ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-vulcan-navy-seals-sas-look-like/733448/11 "2015-10-04T02:55:10Z")
Organize. Vulcan society pre-Surak was rather violent, and they still have traces of that deliberately maintained for just such a situation. Like I said, theoretically pacifists. Vulcan society post-Surak is organized and focused on ‘the good of the many’. If they have to put aside their pacifistic ideals and put their martial history into use, they can organize quickly…assuming it’s not like the Nero situation and they have time, but in that case, even a proper military wouldn’t have time to mobilize. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-vulcan-navy-seals-sas-look-like/733448/12 "2015-10-04T03:06:09Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > The Mirror Universe from TOS? Or was it also in other series? Both. In _ **TOS** _, it’s clear that the Vulcans are willing accomplices to the “Terran” Empire, and they are mean sonsabitches. When Evil Spock warns Evil Sulu against trying to assassinate him, he says “My operatives would avenge my death … and some of \*them \*are Vulcans,” and Evil Sulu looks like he just crapped his pants. The episode, if you’re not familiar with it, is the second season’s “Mirror, Mirror.” In “Journey to Babel,” Spock also states that Vulcans are quite capable of violence, up to and including premeditated murder. They will kill you, provided they have a logical reason to do so. As “Amok Time” showed, they do have powerful emotions, even if they are normally bottled up. They also have an extremely violent past to which they can occasionally revert, even in this Universe. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-vulcan-navy-seals-sas-look-like/733448/13 "2015-10-04T16:51:32Z")
There was also a Federation starship crewed entirely by Vulcans, The Intrepid (tho why it didn’t have a Vulcan name is a mystery to me). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-vulcan-navy-seals-sas-look-like/733448/14 "2015-10-04T17:06:03Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > There was also a Federation starship crewed entirely by Vulcans, The Intrepid (tho why it didn’t have a Vulcan name is a mystery to me). They probably referred to it by their own word for “fearless” when talking among themselves in their native language. T’Pring and Stonn in “Amok Time” also showed that Vulcans in this Universe are also perfectly capable of orchestrated treachery, provided it can be rationalized logically. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-vulcan-navy-seals-sas-look-like/733448/15 "2015-10-04T17:15:55Z")
I always thought the elf armies in _TLotR_ movies were very Vulcan-like. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-vulcan-navy-seals-sas-look-like/733448/16 "2015-10-04T17:55:00Z")
Even as late as Picard’s time, the Vulcans had their own intelligence and security agency, and I wouldn’t want to mess with them: [V'Shar | Memory Alpha | Fandom](http://en.memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/V'Shar) ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-vulcan-navy-seals-sas-look-like/733448/17 "2015-10-04T18:47:21Z")
I’m pretty sure I have the correct answer… Whatever the fiction writers feel like making them look like. It is like asking about cartoon character’s sexual orientation. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-vulcan-navy-seals-sas-look-like/733448/18 "2015-10-04T18:56:30Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > They probably referred to it by their own word for “fearless” when talking among themselves in their native language. > > T’Pring and Stonn in “Amok Time” also showed that Vulcans in this Universe are also perfectly capable of orchestrated treachery, provided it can be rationalized logically. What did Stonn do that was treacherous? He clearly expected to be duelling Spock himself, not to have T’Pring manipulate Kirk into doing it (and that in turn was obviously a slur of the moment decision on her part). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-vulcan-navy-seals-sas-look-like/733448/19 "2015-10-04T19:12:42Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > What did Stonn do that was treacherous? He clearly expected to be duelling Spock himself, not to have T’Pring manipulate Kirk into doing it (and that in turn was obviously a slur of the moment decision on her part). Aside from screwing around with Spock’s fiancee/wife and being a willing part of her scheme to dump him (which would involve combat to the death)? Oh, not much. A real peach of a guy, a total paragon of virtue. Someone I’d really like to hang with on the weekends and maybe split a keg of Romulan ale with. Spock was right at the end when he hinted that they deserved each other. And while “slur” may be strangely appropriate in this context, I’m sure you know the actual expression is “spur of the moment.” 😉 **EDIT:** Why do you assume it was “spur of the moment”? Seems to me she already had the whole thing orchestrated in her mind. It was only dumb fool luck that Kirk was there for her to choose. It could have been anyone Spock invited to accompany him. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2015, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-vulcan-navy-seals-sas-look-like/733448/20 "2015-10-04T22:05:35Z")
She was taking a chance that Kirk, if he won, wouldn’t demand she serve him as loyal and permanent wife - she didn’t really know the guy, after all. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-vulcan-navy-seals-sas-look-like/733448.md?page=2)