Starfleet's enlisted personnel provide the manpower to keep its starships and facilities running efficiently, even under extremely demanding circumstances. Enlisted personnel are vocational specialists, focusing their expertise in a specific field. Not as broadly educated as officers, they are still respected for their practical experience, but must take orders from the officers stationed over them.

In the early 25th century, Starfleet is quickly expanding to fill manpower demands of the various crises with which it contends. Because of this expansion, rapid training programs are greatly increasing Starfleet's available manpower, but that also means there is a significant gap in education between an average enlisted crew member, who has gone through perhaps a few months of training, and an officer who studied for years at the Academy. This gap has made it necessary to re-institute the old officer/enlisted hierarchy of an earlier era.