Neither can Gunnery Sergeant Hartman [from ‘Full Metal Jacket’] 
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but we can use holograms in Star Trek, so maybe yes.
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In my ships crew we are at 91 officers and 88 enlisted + cadets. I spent time actually getting crew quarters for everyone but not actual characters yet but as we need NPC. When we need them I’ve got background already done.
Love this topic. I’m retired US Navy enlisted, and have a soft spot for enlisted in our Starfleet world/campaign.
We use a number of enlisted as regular supporting characters, and as most of our players in the group have some history with the military, it makes things a bit more “real” to us (who often show up on routine helm watches, working in engineering, and of course, on security). We also have a crusty Master Chief who’s a combat veteran who takes the Security Department Head under his wing.
All our enlisted are very specialized, but it’s their personalities that really help flesh out our ship.
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I’ve stated to my players that the Lexington has 165 officers and 335 enlisted out of a crew of 400. Most of the enlisted personnel are in the background not central to the story, but the ship couldn’t run without them. They’re the reason you can go on your away mission and when you get back to the ship everything is fine like you were never away. They are the reason the transporters and sensors and warp coils are always clean and in tip-top shape so when you need to punch it up to maximum warp, you know that everything is going to work like it’s supposed to. Master Chief Hospital Corpsman Nicholas Dwayne is our senior enlisted advisor on the Lexington and Dr. Grelox took him for backup on an away mission already. He’s become an important supporting character. Senior Chief Jimmy Nakayama filled in for our Chief of Security while has was at a conference, although he stayed down in the armory instead of taking a bridge station so didn’t roll.
Our house rule on this issue is as follows:
- Enlisted personnel go to Starfleet Technical Services Academy (the big one is on Luna but there are others) for 18 months, no summer off, and get an Associate’s degree. Space travel requires enough minimum technical knowledge that it can’t be crammed into anything shorter.
- Line officers might commission through Starfleet Academy (by 2270 the regular course lasted 4 years) or ROTC (also typically 4 years, although some cadets join their battalion as sophomores or juniors). ROTC also provides a lot of the commissioned personnel for planetary police and defense forces, independent exploration agencies like UESPA and the Vulcan Science Directorate, and the civilian merchant marine. Many go straight into the reserves. Getting an active-duty Starfleet commission is highly competitive.
- Professional services like medical might get a direct commission after Officer Development School, although Starfleet Medical Academy (a separate institution from Starfleet Academy) takes both civilians making a service commitment and current Starfleet personnel to train and commission them as doctors and allied health professionals.
- “Mustang” officers typically go back to the Academy or ROTC as juniors and commission after two years. However it is possible to be commissioned in the field as well.
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