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?

The first issue we have is you don't think that your 1SG knows what is going on , the second issue we have is that you don't want to make a small adjustment to you schedule to accommodate PT time (most likely you don't schedule your off time at all) well way I see is you can disagree with top (you will not prevail) or you can adapt

Nothing to solve. Just do it

During my deployments, I worked @1600 to 0400 on one tour and 2100 to 0900 on another tour, 6 to 7 days a week. Being a National Guard Personnel Services NCO on AD, it gave me the opportunity to have real time communication back home. I was assigned to the Army BN HQ S1, which allowed them to have me covers nights for them. I never got to do PT with the unit. I did it only own. I also slept from 0600 to 1400. It is a case of adapting if need be, and also leadership leading and caring for Soldiers. I was fortunate to have great leadership. You will get through this. If you have concerns for patient care, stay in your Chain of Command to address that.

According to what you've shared; Welcome to night shift! Your new battle buddies are owls and bats! Get yourself a nice sleeping mask to block out the light and embrace the suck!

I know this is an extremely old thread, but I'd like to provide some input for anyone that visits this in the future. I understand both sides of the argument. Would it be great to get more than 4 to 5 hours of sleep? Absolutely. The military life will never guarantee that you will get the rest you need throughout your career whether in garrison or in the field/deployment. In some cases you have to accept that, in other cases you might be able to fight it. It depends on a case by case basis.

On my first deployment to Afghanistan, I worked 19 to 20 hours every day for an entire deployment. I was woken up almost every single night, because night shift wouldn't do their jobs. If I wasn't woken up for that, I was woken up due to all the noise of night shift people coming into the barracks to get something they forgot, or to wake someone else up. I did not have time to workout on my 2 to 3 hour off time. So we were allowed to utilize our lunch time to get our PT in - as long as it didn't interfere with the deployment. Soldiers would also find creative ways to do PT while at work. We were still expected to maintain our physical fitness - despite the long hours. This occurred during the "New Army," era. This is not something worth fighting as this affected the entire unit. Unless we had a solution to fix it for everyone, which we did not, we sucked it up.

During this deployment we worked 12 hour shifts, along with several hours worth of other duties. It became worse when our officers decided they should be excused from all other duties, because they were not lower enlisted. So, all lower enlisted got even less sleep due to the officers bowing out. You could say we were all extremely exhausted - and in all honesty had a reason to complain this time. But, someone brought this up to the chain of command at the time, and it was never addressed. However, I doubt someone brought an actual solution to the table. Complaining to a chain of command about not getting enough sleep during deployment falls on deaf ears - because it usually affects everyone. Unfortunately, the lower enlisted received the worst of it, but everyone was tired nonetheless. If an actual solution was provided for everyone (not just an individual), we might have had it better. Unfortunately, this was not the case. It was a learning experience, and in this particular case it could have been fought.

Fast forward to returning from deployment, and my sleep issues never stopped. I live in a very odd situation, where I pretty much am on everyone else's time - even when I'm at home. From early morning to late evening. I have almost zero time to myself. I always have to find creative ways to get PT in, because by the time my night is over it's late and I'm usually exhausted. Once I started school I was lucky if I got 1 to 2 hours a sleep a night. After my first semester was over, I was very rundown, got sick, and had very bad migraines. When I started getting more sleep, my energy came back. I'm doing a bit better in the sleeping department now, but getting great sleep is extremely hard to come by. Especially, when both the Army life and my life at home are demanding and time consuming. That is just the way of life sometimes. It's not always going to be fair, but we can make changes to our schedules that we can control to hopefully stay as healthy possible. Which, is what I had to do - and I have no life outside of work and home.

I 100% understand that a lack of sleep over a long period time is extremely bad for your health. But, 4 to 5 hours isn't too bad. Your body can handle that for awhile. If you're getting 1 to 2 hours a sleep consistently, I would be much more concerned. Now, if you feel you're just not getting enough sleep, you have a few options. Either provide an all encompassing solution to your chain of command where the entire unit benefits from it, or adjust your schedule to where you are getting more sleep. This could mean you take naps during your lunch, and sleep when you have time available. You may not be able to sleep all at once, and you might have to break it up throughout the day. This also means you might not have time to do anything else, other than work, sleep, eat, PT, personal hygiene and repeat. It doesn't sound fun, but sometimes you have to sacrifice your personal time to ensure you get the rest that you need in order to function properly.

As far as you needing to be well rested for a medical occupation in the military, that's not always going to happen. Whether you're in the medical field in the military or in the civilian sector it can and will be a hectic occupation to be in at times. There is no guarantee you'll get the right amount of sleep while you're in the medical field. With that being said, the military in itself is high risk. No matter what job you're in, it can be life or death if you're not on alert. Whether in garrison, in the field, or overseas. It's not just the medical field. Do your best to get as much rest as you can, and if this means not having a life for awhile then you might have to accept that - or find creative ways to work around it.

What are you doing after PT till you go to work?

Better learn to suck it up, because that’s the life we signed up for. The Army isn’t a 8-12 hour job. It’s 24/7. You go when called and all the stress you deal with is part of it. Direct obedience to orders and the PT is to keep your mind and body sharp. The enemy will not wait for you to wake and feel like fighting. The enemy will snuff you out and move on. Your leadership is preparing you to be responsible for the man/ woman to your left or right. You are young and don’t know why they are doing it. It’s a bigger picture than you can handle. Either get with the program or get out so you can sleep your life away. We all went through it and it’s part of discipline!

There is no excuse for this. 4-5 hours sleep is not enough turn around time. It sounds like you are AMEDD and the Army I was in 20 years ago would never have done this. Unfortunately, there are bad individual commands along with bad commanders. As a hospital troop, you need rest to care for patients. I would go to JAG and ask them to help you formulate a rational complaint with a rational solution. You could suggest that PT be done in the afternoon prior to your shift. If that fails there is the IG. I remember it was very effective when I was in 20 years ago. Last resort is write your elected representative, but unlike the IG, they are removed from the situation and can only write your command a letter. Good luck. I am sorry that you are going thru this. This is the sort of thing that causes good soldiers to leave.

Just be happy you have leadership that pushes you hard to make you a stronger more resilient soldier/person.

It’s like working out in the afternoon for you. Adjust your schedule. You are whining.