Three years is standard in the United States Navy.
Two years is a little light, but it is a high stress position in an active combat zone... I can definitely see getting them out faster.
I wouldn't have objected to three years. I worry about two becoming habit-forming.
So out of curiosity, I looked up the average length of service for commanders of the US forces in Afghanistan, the closest modern analogue I can think of to the interminable limited war of the GBZ.
International Security Assistance Force - Wikipedia
Average term is 1 to 2 years.
Quite frankly, the US has a larger number of generals to circulate through Afghanistan than Starfleet has admirals, the posting is semi-politicized in a way we've been trying to prevent, and Starfleet's been more successful in the Gabriel Expanse than the US has in Afghanistan.
I will say in mitigation that Ainsworth and T'Lorel's terms do both
average to about two and a half years each, and that T'Lorel was appointed earlier in 2315, rather than later, as I'd thought at first. It's less of a problem than I'd worried about- but I do want to make a point of this. Rapid turnaround in top management is potentially a toxic thing, and arguments about the stresses of combat mandating regular rotations of personnel apply
more to the personnel at the sharp end than they do to commanders in a rear area, not less.
[][EC] T'Lorel
[][GBZ] Nash ka'Sharren
[][GBZ1] Samhaya Mrr'shan
[][ACA] Michel Thuir
Nash has proved her worth. We promoted her out of a chair for a reason and she has sat at commodore for six years. It's time to give her that greater command. Any longer and we are doing her a major disservice. God knows she deserves it, and by this point she knows the GBZ and its players well. Giving Nash her old XO as a subordinate is just icing on this cake. These two will do well in the GBZ... I'm not really sure what people seem to have against promoting her anymore, really.
Nobody has anything against promoting her, except possibly a desire to retain her in spacegoing commands- and we don't really have a lot of spacegoing commands above commodore rank. The Gabriel Expanse task force is just about the only one.
Nash is definitely a solid contender for that billet. Very solid. I look forward to the Cardassians' facial expressions should she win.
I'm
less confident about assigning Sam as one of her task force commanders, but she'd probably be suitable. It's been over two years since we lost the
Enterprise-B, so the usual issue- making sure the officer in question gets some staff experience before bumping her to flag rank- is less of an issue.
[Note that Samhaya spent pretty much the entire time between the late 2290s and mid-2315 aboard ship, so she had effectively no staff experience when she came back from Aga Carmide. She may have actually gone longer spending all her time on spacefaring commands than
Nash did before we put her at a desk in San Francisco, depending on the details of Nash and Sam's careers in the '90s]
[][EC] Rachel Ainsworth
[ ][GBZ] Jessica Rivers
[ ][GBZ] Michael Thuir
[][GBZ1] Rosalee McAdams
[ ][ACA] Michel Thuir
[][ACADEMY] Shift 1pt from Techs to Enlisted
[][EXPLORER] Shift .25 from Techs to Enlisted
Thuir, Nash, and Rivers are the only Commodores suitable for the GBZ. However, I am not sure if I want Thuir to be commandant or commander. I'd like him to have more field experience, but I'd also like him to train Picard.
Thuir has ample field experience- at least ten years as a starship captain, sterling service in the Biophage crisis, and successful task force command at the Battle of Ixaria. I wouldn't worry about that aspect of the man.
