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?

You can solve it by going to PT. Sleep after.

LOL this is really good stuff and not even April fools day.
I guess I’m officially one old grunt now. Because I’ve heard everything.
What the hell is going on? I can’t even imagine a fat S4 clerk asking this question.

Go to PT.

Take your 4th point of contact to pt

I am sure this is not a daily event. Suck it up and go PT. Sleep is over rated any way

Be thankful you aren't in a line unit. We'd come back from the field early morning, get cleaned up and be told PT was at normal time. Married guys wouldn't even bother going home, stuff like that normal tho we didn't like it anymore than you apparently.

4-5 hours of sleep is more than many troops get during the normal scheme of things, this may suck but if shit ever hits the fan you'll likely get by w/far less rest and a lot more stress

Get up and go do PT

Go to PT. Take a nap during your break before you have to report to work or during lunch.

I see this is old, but I’ll go on record anyway in case someone else is dealing with this problem.
I was an Army chaplain, so you can imagine I would want to display a measure of sensitivity to your situation. My bottom-line answer is that you need to go to PT.

There are some valid reasons that a Soldier should be excused from PT, but lack of sleep isn’t one of them. I know it must be very hard pushing through when you feel so exhausted but nevertheless, you need to be at PT.

Think of it this way. When you go to the field, you may not be able to get an ideal amount of sleep, but you still must focus on the mission. This is especially the case, when it’s a combat deployment
Each time I was deployed, it was common for me and my Soldiers to get little sleep. It was rough and unfortunate, but other than very rare instances, the mission must come first. Getting little sleep now might very well prepare you to be better equipped to handle a combat deployment when lives would be at risk if you failed to do your jobs to the best of your ability.

Remember this. Regardless of our MOS, our job is to be combat multipliers. Plain and simple. Our job is to win wars in the most humane way possible so that ultimately, we can save lives in the long run.

There are a few other things I would say. Perhaps you could talk to your platoon SGT (after letting your squad leader know) and see if there’s something he/she can do to make your schedule easier or allow you to do individual PT. Perhaps you could negotiate and offer to do some other kind of duty that would make up for their granting you some accommodations. If they won’t, then I’m afraid you just need to push through.

And I would not recommend going to your 1SGT. That may not go well for you. And certainly, don’t do it without your platoon SGT’s knowledge. That would go very, very badly for you. Trust me on this.

Another consideration (though it doesn’t seem to apply to your situation) is that I’m pretty sure that regulations state that a soldier is required to be allowed four hours sleep a night except in extreme circumstances, such a combat operations. Even then, four hours may not be always possible.

If your 1SGT or CDR was regularly putting you in situations where you couldn’t get at least four hours sleep for extended periods of time and there were not extreme mission demands (such as combat operations) and he/she is consistently unwilling to hear you out, then it might be time to seek out your chaplain. That would be an ethics violation that requires chaplain intervention. I’ve been in situations where CDR’s NCO’s were abusing their Soldiers and I had to intervene. Those situations are rare, but unfortunately, they do happen. I don’t think this applies to your situation though.

The only other thing I would say is that if you genuinely think it’s a health issue, you could go to sick call to see if there’s something you can do to make your sleep more restful. However, I wouldn’t make a habit of going to sick call unless your pretty sure it could be a health-related issue. That would go badly for your as well. The bottom line is that our job is to be combat multipliers and that means being in good physical shape. That means a Soldier needs to be at PT.

I know it’s hard, but that’s part of what it means to be a Soldier. I hope this helps.

AR 30-22
FM 22-51
FM 6-22.5 CH 4

Basically you are required a minimum of 4 hours of continuous sleep with 6-8 hours preferred to maximize the effectiveness of the Soldier.

Now, if the 1SG says go to PT he is the NCOIC and it his world that you just operate within. Drink a cup of suck it up and make yourself a stronger Soldier. You are in the Army not a civilian job. There are no days off, just down time.
So, if you feel compelled to challenge your top NCO in the company spouting off regulations...let me know how that goes for you. He is either going to admire that you took the time to research regs OR more than likely smoke you until he gets tired (staying within regulations in the most creative way possible without getting in trouble).
The catch all answer, ask your first line supervisor and quit being weak. What are you going to do in actual war when PT, stamina, and discipline will keep you alive? Nah, 1SG I'm not getting up yet for the mission. I've only had 3 1/2 hours sleep. POG.

He let you sleep that long?

Have you ever read something so stupid, it makes you squint?

First if at 20 something you can’t live on 5 hours

Drill Sergeants get less sleep than that.
For us here on the trail it’s all about time management.
Luckily for me so far, when the trainees do not require DS presence, we would do shifts in that timeframe so the drills can try to get a break here and there during training. So far I have seen some good feedback on this post. Best of luck.

Sounds like you have a good 1stSgt!! Be tough you joined the military and thank god there are still leaders that hold people accountable.

You're not going to like my answer. You don't fix it. You show up for PT as ordered. Otherwise you open yourself up for NJP via article 15. I can remember many times having to do things I didn't like while in the military. That's the life you chose, volunteer Army and all. I'm pretty old school, but I can remember things like 72 hour ARTEPs where NO ONE slept. You did your job without sleep for 72 hours straight. We had Field problems that lasted days, and we were expected to be soldiers. Your 1st SGT got a case of the red ass when only 5 people showed up for PT. As the senior NCO in a company, he is entitled, allowed and expected to make corrections. This is a corrective measure. No doubt, as the first shirt is most likely an E8, or a Senior E7, the NCO/Section Chief meeting that precipitated this response was direct, and swift and sure. You seem to be laboring under the delusion that this is some how wrong, unfair, or that you feel inconvenienced. My sense is that your unit discipline was too relaxed in the first place if only 5 individuals felt the need to attend a mandatory formation. Military discipline is a necessity of the job. BCT was all about molding you into a soldier. You are a soldier first, and Lab technician second, don't confuse the order of things. That is why the Army also requires you to maintain your weight and qualify with a weapon. I can guarantee that if ANY 1st Sgt. shows up at a 0530 PT formation with only 5 members of his company with him, they will directly address the issue with their NCO corp, and this will happen every time. So if you are looking to blame someone, look to your left and right. In my mind, every soldier and NCO in your unit allowed this to happen with the lackadaisical approach to military discipline.

This was 7 months ago, so I’m guessing the issue has been resolved. I am a section NCOIC at an MTF with 24-Hour staffing. My guess is that your 1SG isn’t aware of your time crunch, or doesn’t realize how this is negatively affecting your sleep patterns. I’m a nurse, I understand that you need to be well rested to do our jobs optimally. SM and their dependents rely on us to be at the top of our game... but you gotta do PT.

At my MTC our leadership empowers me to train my shift working soldiers at a time that’s appropriate for their schedule that will maximize their effectiveness when treating patients. Your 1SG is a 68series too, and will understand the importance of an adequate sleep cycle.

I don’t find the hours you’re presenting unreasonable, but you should let your NCOIC know how this is affecting you negatively, present a solution, and see where it goes. Again, my shift working soldiers (who work 12 hour shifts, not 8 lucky) get more days off than most soldiers, and attend a PT session with other troops who work that shift schedule.

Morning PT at most MTFs is for soldiers who work the day shift. Honestly, your schedule is kind of unusual, maybe not for 68Ks but I’ve never heard of a 1600-0000 shift.

I was in the army in at 17. In basic training we were supposed to have four hrs. of sleep at night. we might get no sleep one night and eight hrs. the next. That equals eight hrs. in two nights. If you can not handle four hrs. of sleep you need tp consider a new field.

Let's not compare going to the club and getting drunk to regularly having a schedule.

Also, if and entire section has a schedule, that's not an individual person issue.

I'm not necessarily saying the suggestions here are totally wrong, but some of your reasonings are fucktarded.

I'm old, but I worked nights most of my time in. Mandatory formations were always at a bad time. You could speak with your supervisor, it you do not get a satisfactory response you could try following the chain of command. I am going to be honest, If I was your supervisor I would just think you were a whiner.