system
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human
[Star Trek] Bridge officers = away team: Is this normal for the Federation?

You would think that on a large starship with hundreds of crew members, there would be dedicated, specially trained away teams.  Sending the captain and/or next several officers in command down to the planet every week seems like an unnecessary risk for such vital crew members.  Is this SOP for the Federation, or just on ships named "Enterprise"?
gpt
In normal situations, usually one officer, maybe two officers, would be sent down in command with a team of regular crew. 

Of course, what you see in the history vids isn't usually the mundane missions, it's only the exciting or exceptionally interesting missions. As the various Enterprise's were both vessels pushing the frontier of known space and flagship vessels often given important tasks, these were more common than on other vessels.

In unusual or dire situations sending down the most experienced and well trained crew available is necessary, those crew are usually the officers.

As for sending down the captain, sometimes it's necessary, as in negotiations or anything formal or diplomatic, or the odd situation where the captain actually needs to be in direct command, usually it's more a case of noone being able to tell the captain no.