Let old Admirals retire

I was watching a rerun of Star Trek: The Next Generation and it got me to thinking about a potential nit. As a rule, I don't want to post nits to this blog about Star Trek episodes or films completed prior to this blog's inception. But I couldn't find any mention of my nit in the standard nitpicking texts.

It was about the first season episode "Too Short a Season," in which Admiral Mark Jameson (Clayton Rohner), old, frail and weak from the effects of Iverson's disease, came aboard the Enterprise on a mission to solve a hostage crisis on a planet he'd been to decades before. Picard is obviously concerned that the wheelchair-bound old Admiral might not be up to the mission, but at the same time gives him all due military courtesy. Picard doesn't know that Jameson obtains a rejuvenating drug untested for humans. By the time of the final confrontation, the old Admiral looks more like a teenager than a seasoned flag officer.

As far as I can tell from this episode, Jameson continued to serve in Starfleet after being diagnosed with Iverson's disease, which, to Dr. Crusher's knowledge, is incurable. My question is: how come Jameson didn't retire from Starfleet after his diagnosis? Or get some kind of medical discharge? In today's military, a serious and incurable ailment like Iverson's would be a completely understandable reason to be released from duty.

In the 24th Century we imagine that the monetary aspect of retirement would become irrelevant; Jameson would get medical care, and food and shelter, regardless of the facts of his service record. But the reason for retirement would still exist, even more so than today: when people live long enough, they will inevitably reach a point when they are no longer able to do their jobs.

Phil Farrand does point out in the Nitpicker's Guide for Next Generation Trekkers that the transporter pad does not have a wheelchair ramp, and yet Jameson came aboard the Enterprise with a wheelchair. Clearly there are many varied obstacles to Jameson's continued service. But I don't see anything in either the Nitpicker's Guide nor at NitCentral suggesting that Jameson ought to have retired from Starfleet. Sure he can be recalled for one last mission, but his wearing of the uniform suggests that he continued to serve. When Admiral McCoy showed up the first episode, he was wearing civilian clothes. And though much older in years, he was in better shape than Jameson at the beginning of this episode!