I am being told to go to PT by the command on only 4-5 hours of sleep. As a junior enlisted, how do I solve this problem?

Your Company Commander and First Sergeant sound like they have come from line units without previous experience with multi shift Soldiers. Good leadership adopts, it’s not one size fits all. Just because you can doesn’t always mean you should. This is a good way to alienate young Soldiers. I’ve seen this before. You are in a tough spot.

Why is there a 1600 PT session, who attends that?

Is there a 3rd Shift or 0000 to 0800?

When I was on active duty, I worked your same shift as a computer operator. Our scheduled PT time was 1400. That gave us hygiene time then do shift changeover before 1600.

How many Soldiers staff that same shift with you?

Is this a suggestion that you can bring up with your first line supervisor as a compromise?

Working that shift is not an excuse for not participating in PT. You need to participate.

Get up go to PT then take a nap. When on perimeter guard in NAM we went from 6pm-to 6am at 50% then went to our gun trucks an gun jeeps and worked till 5 and back to the perimeter. were assigned for 2 weeks at a time.

Wow you are a little bitch.

Stop being a little bitch.

When on deployment as a hospital corpsman, i did not have a shift, my duty was 24-7 and my marines health and welfare was first and foremost. Many a night was spent caring for injured and sick individuals. Pt helps to build the strength you will need to carry your comrades and builds the warrior ethos that will help you to fight when necessary to protect those who are injured.

The PT Program is the 1SG's Program. If you have a legitimate reason to gripe although you have a choice of two separate PT formations you can make, then use the NCO Chain of Command. There are a lot of heated comments on here but I'll defer to a comment I heard back when I was on Active Duty (yes I have achieved the status of "old Soldier" as I entered the Army in 1974), "Its the ARMY, its supposed to Suck sometimes!" Having four or fiver hours of sleep before doing PT won't kill you. Its all part of the life. Shift work is its own animal but Soldiers have been dealing with shift work in a lot of disciplines (MP, Intel in Field Stations etc) for a loooonnnggg time. Deal with it and take comfort that "This too, shall Pass". The new PT Test sounds pretty challenging. Its the 1SGs job ot make sure you pass it....or at least have a fighting chance.

Sleep after PT. In my day, everybody formed up at 0600 for Battery PT unless you had the duty.

Maybe you should go to the 1SG and ask if you can do PT from 1430 to 1530 so you will have time to get ready for shift at 1600.

If you're getting 4 or 5 hours sleep, you're one of the lucky ones. Lots of people get even less due to work schedules and other requirements. Even when not required I regularly slept for 4 hours, 5 on occasion, and got up for the purpose of exercising. This was all before retiring more than 20 years ago. I still only get 4 or 5 a night but I don't run any longer, I walk my dogs. Everyone goes through periods of what you're complaining about. Eventually it'll be someone else's turn to be inconvenienced by a little lack of sleep.

Go to the IG. Or open door to the company commander first.