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?

Gotta man up, your not in the girls scouts.

Welcome to the Military, where Men and Women who came before you in hostile situations or not, endeavored to persevere and succeeded. I suggest you do the same and drop the 'woe is me" line of BS. Either that or find a new line of work.

How to address this? There is the old starter line of back in my dad but the Army seems to be more soft in the past 10 years. Soldiers have been accomplishing the task of doing shift work with less slept. Sure they bitch at times. You find ways that work for you. You mentioned new 1SG and CO. They are assessing the company Soldiers and how they perform. Don't worry about what reg covers what to make whatever appeal makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. You work in a Hospital. Your not in the elements sucking it up so be grateful. You could still be working after PT up till your shift to work in the hospital. Which you left out of your explanation. After PT is over are you able to go back to your room and sleep or do you have to go to work say..in the motorpool?? If not the motorpool and you can go back to your room...why are you bitching?? Ideally its a preferred option that a Soldier works an 8 hr shift with 16 hrs off. But that isn't always achieved. Plus taking naps when you can it very helpful. Physical fitness is mostly your responsibility to stay in shape. 1SG is just making sure it's accomplished and things should even out once they get adjusted. Your PSG's, SFC's, should be briefing the 1SG about this and not be YES men. Good luck. I came off CQ and 1SG had me listed for Guard Duty that day. He wouldn't change it even though my PSG made him aware of it. So I went to Guard mount, took Demand and had that day off and they next. So win win. :) You'll be ok SPC. Nothing but a thing that you can't handle.

Coming from a former Marine grunt who now works as a nurse, it's the military, you do what the command says. Do your job, go to pt, catch some close eye when you can, and remember, chow is continuous. Meaning, mission orders come first. Second, when you have downtime, it is your responsibility to catch adequate rest - it may not be your ideal or preferred time but thats life in the service. Lastly, the ideal that chow is continuous meaning you wont always have time for a sit down meal and may need to eat duting small breaks during the day.

As a nurse currently, if youre arguing that you cant set up an iv pump minimal sleep, thats one of the simplest tasks. If youre fatigued or tired, double and triple check your work, dont rush it. Triple check med orders before administering- should be common practice anyways.

Lastly, feel free to grumble and complain with your fellow junior enlisted, seeks a right of passage so to speak. Us grunts were almost always disgruntled about something or another. It builds bonds and camaraderie. Best of luck to you.

I can not believe this. This person should have taken basic at Ft Knox in the winter of 59, I did. I wonder if he had to crawl through the tank tracks in the mud. I could write a book a foot thick on what is now called abuse. I have nothing to say but good about my experience in the Army and later four years in the Air Force

You just need to suck it up Soldier and go to PT at 0530 as ordered to do. If nobody else is willing to be blunt and honest with you, I will. You are in the United States Army Soldier, you are no longer a civilian! Yes, you are whining Specialist! When I was stationed in Germany at Robinson Barracks I worked 12 hour shifts as a Military Policeman from 1800 hrs to 0600 hrs, showed up for PT formation at 0600 hrs as ordered and then turned around at 0800 hrs and took college classes on my days off that were 8 hours a day for 2 days a week at the Education Center from 0800 to 1700 hours, with 1 hour off for lunch break from class. I ate lunch and then laid down for a nap to get me through it. I did that for a full year until I was promoted and went into an Admin job working 8 hours a day with weekends off at the Provost Marshal Office Operations. Embrace The Suck! It can be done. It is only temporary. If it is too much for you, then maybe you should consider getting out of the US Army. Otherwise, suck it up and go to PT as scheduled.

Don't know how it is now but the regs used to say 4 hours was the minimum. So check the regs

Can you change your hours to 1700 to 0100? It appears that upper management [ie, the CO] needs to change the time people report to work based on the PT schedule. This isn't rocket science; however, it sounds like ego and I'm in-charge attitude.

How do you bring this issue up and solve this effectively and professionally? You make the PT formation at 0530 - do your PT and go back to bed!

I'd recommend working with/through your 1st line supervisor and seeking a compromise. Above all do the work to maximize your personal PT test score. A solid record gives you more leverage.