Chief O'Brien's combat experience makes him an effective infantry leader in the fictional example, but his engineering skills make him costly to risk in that role. He is also the specialist who keeps Deep Space Nine's systems working. Combining senior engineering responsibilities with infantry leadership places both capabilities in one person. Defending the station fits his duties, while deploying him elsewhere as a troop leader creates a different personnel problem. The comparison with the leader of the Dominion soldiers makes that mismatch especially clear.
Notable Point · 3:02:23-3:06:18
The cost of using Chief O'Brien as an infantry leader
Deep Space Nine's use of O'Brien in ground combat risks losing an unusually difficult-to-replace engineering specialist.