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?

Get educated on the Performance Triad and bring it to the Command that way, but make sure you are explaining why you are only getting 4-5 hours of sleep.

It sounds as it is official. You are whining. There is a regulation that address sleep time. However, it is only applicable during a combat operation. If you care to know what it says, if I remember well the Soldier should be allowed four hour of uninterrupted sleep for during a 24 hours period. During sustained operations, the SM may get one day off after so many days of duty. Again, I do not think this helps you. Follow the orders of your leaders without complaining. You can make a request to your first line leaders. But, I am sure they already are fully aware of the situation.

On naval ships, if you stand the 00-04 watch you still have to be present for the 0700 roll call and do morning activities. You just gotta suck it up and get used to it.

Since you are Junior Enlisted, you will need to learn the proper use of Chain of Command. Talk to your section leader, then have them talk with the Platoon SGT. You should be able to talk to both at the same time. Just remember, 1SG is proving a point and it probably will not last long. suck it up and go back to bed after PT, your shift starts at 1600... what else would you be doing after 0630 (after an hour PT)?

Go to PT, there is no real difference in doing PT before or after work. IF this life does not suit you, find another job! Being a soldier is an honorable career and it takes a special person to do it.

Professionally, your main issue is that in order to provide your skills in the most extreme environments under unbelievable conditions you need to train your body to operate at 100% with little or no sleep for as long as it takes. In my eleven years I rarely got 5 hours of sleep. In fact, when I became a civilian it took me a few years to break the cycle of five hours of sleep. My best advice for you is to suck it up and get out there and train your body. The last person you want to make an enemy of is the 1SG. So, go out and prove yourself capable of adapting to these new demands and after a few months of showing the 1SG what your made of put in a written request for either a different shift at the hospital or a different time schedule for PT.

You got 4 to 5 hours of sleep , and you can’t do PT , and you’re a soldier ? I’ll tell you what my my leaders would tell me and what I would tell my soldiers , suck it up and drive on . Now I could see a problem with quality of life if this was an ongoing issue , where this was happening for months at a time or longer but other than that , your 1SG is in his position to make those calls .

Wtf are you talking about?

You have 24 hrs in a day. You know what you do? You do what every human being on earth does who works a night shift: sleep in the day time.

Sucks to suck, but sounds like you dont want to inconvenience your social life. If you go to sleep at 0800 every day, 7 hrs later is 1500.

What is the problem?

This is called 'adulting'. You chose the medical field, this is what the medical field does.

Its also what MP's do, it's what pilots do, SF and Rangers do, it's what a shit load of people do.

It's what grown ass men do.

You have your orders. Follow them. As soon as you can, write a request addressed to your Company Commander and sent up through your chain of command asking for a deviation from the training schedule. You can provide supporting reasons and ask your PSG or equivalent to go to bat for you too. How is your PT score? Can you handle maintaining an adequate level of fitness on your own? If your company has soldiers who do poorly on the p.t. test the leadership team must fix that. They don't want to be in that situation and that's why you are kind of caught in a challenging position. Regardless of MOS, soldier's need to be disciplined and physically fit. Barring that, we don't need them regardless of how brilliant they are. Sounds like you are trying to carry out the commander's orders, so good on ya for that. Your suggestions will carry more weight when you are consistently doing what is expected of you. Just as an aside, I spent a decent portion of my career in the field and getting 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep in a 24 hour period didn't happen too often. So if I could do it I know you can do it.

You can’t handle it then find another career

What i didn't see in the original post was how many days a week PT formation is required.

WOW, back in my basic days we worked till 1-2 AM polishing belt buckles. You know the ones we had to drag over the gravel yard while low crawling cause we didn't do 50 push-ups correctly. Then we were up at 4 to clean the Barracks bay. Oh, then, our DI would deliberately walk thru mud then our just polished bay and demand why the bay was muddy. He did this every day for 12 weeks. This was Ft Campbell Jan 1968. And every swing dick was Nam bound. Except a few enlisted, very few. Ah the good old days. Then AIT at Ft Monmouth NJ was more fun. The chow was so bad we'd empty 2-3 garbage containers of uneaten chow after every meal. Stuff was terrible. Then it was on to Nam. Stop complaining it can always get worse.

DBAP!

I would talk to your your squad leader or PSG first, maybe then they can resolve this issue. Granted, if you get off shift at 2400 hrs it takes some time to get back to where you need to sleep and get actually get to sleep. Now I've been out partying in my younger days only to get back in time to change into PT uniform or maybe sleep for an hour or two but that was on me (and the guys with me). Use your chain of command before you try the open door policy most commanders and 1SG's have. Talk to your chain in person, not email, unless there's a special reason you want it documented in writing. I would avoid email at first.

You can do what we all have done and just go, ask to switch shifts, take a nap after PT or comb your command instructions for some kind of relief but do remember that deployments mean a lot longer hours where I remember only being allowed 6 hours off shift a day.

Where's my popcorn? LMFAO

Yeah man, make a schedule. You'll be igght.

we ran on after all nighters smelling of kimche and soju all the way home

Not sure if this has been suggested, but could you get together with the others on your shift and see if there is a (third) time that works better for that shift, then bring it to the First Sergeant? If not, the schedule suggested where you go to sleep after PT could work, I’ve had to do something similar in the past. It’s not ideal, but better than nothing. For all of you telling the person to just “suck it up,” this is why we have a retention problem. If you are unwilling to make minor adjustments to schedules to ensure the safety of your people and those they take care of, then don’t complaining about manning shortages when people leave after their initial commitment.

There are no regulations in that regard. In my day I got along with a lot less sleep