Robert Crichton
Captain Robert Crichton is the founder and commander of the Starfleet Rangers. He organized the rangers during the Cardassian War when he noticed that it had become apparent that Starfleet did not have the resources to protect every single outpost along the Cardassian border.
His plan involved training officers at Starfleet Academy in small-scale operations. Small groups or individual Rangers would then be dispatched to the frontier colony worlds threatened by Cardassian forces and would establish a series of sensor outposts as well as organize resistance to any raid that took place.
The new force worked wonderfully.
The Cardassian Union despised the Rangers because of their constant harassment of their plans during the war. Once Ranger groups were in place, the simple raids that the Cardassians had enjoyed early in the conflict became more and more difficult to perform. This was due in large part to the organizational efforts of the Rangers as well as the attacks by small Ranger units against supply depots and other strategic resources.
In addition to the small operations and raids that Ranger units performed during the War, they also were responsible for collecting troop and fleet movements. This was undertaken through the use of remote relays and small stealth cloaks and operations.
After the end of the war Captain Crichton was returned to command of a starship and his Rangers were disbanded. Starfleet Command decided , despite their success that the Rangers were not a very practical force for use in more conventional conflicts. All Ranger Training programs were suspended and Rangers were dispersed to various ships in the fleet.
When the Federation Civil War broke out, Crichton selected to join the 52nd Fleet rather than serve under Doentiz. His decision was in large part due to the way that Doenitz would use his talents to further the tyrannical dictates that he desired fulfilled. After the Invasion of Andoria and Tellar, Crichton suggested to the leadership of the 52nsd Fleet that they reform the Starfleet Rangers.
He cited several similarities between the Cardassian War and the current Civil war, namely a restricted ability to conduct open conflict all along the border between the two powers. He was persuasive enough to be allowed to train a single Ranger unit for operation, pending a review of their performance.
Their first operation was a strike against a supply depot located on Betazoid. The planet had been occupied the previous year by Starfleet marines loyal to Doenitz. The raid was successful enough to cause the Doenitz admiralty to significantly delay the launch of an offensive attack against another planet within the UFP.
On seeing the level of contribution that the rangers could provide, The Command of the 52nd Fleet approved the creation and training of the newly reformed Starfleet Rangers.
Crichton commanded the rangers for the full duration of the Civil War and upon it's completion, was promoted to the Rank of Admiral. Admiral Crichton currently retains command of "his" Rangers and is stationed at Starfleet Command on Earth.
