I lol'ed at the "bring the friend" gag. Those who have the most Twitter followers become Generals
It's not a gag, that's actually how recruiting drives work. When I enlisted, there was 'Stripes for Buddies', which gave you a bonus and a rank increase depending on how many people you bring in. Assuming TEC follows this, though, you can only get to E3 (Which is Seaman in the Navy, likely analogous to TEC fleet ranks) this way. There's no way they'd let a new recruit start any higher without a significant cause.
That little part of the scene really made my day, honestly. It made TEC all the more realistic in my eyes.