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.

You are to be physically qualified at all times. You can get out of shape in less than a week. It can take up to 3 weeks of regular exercise to get back into shape.
Therefore you are subject to a regiment of PT to maintain your physical condition to be proficient in our jobs.
In the Airborne we were subject to taking a PT test at anytime and if we couldn't pass we would be pulled off jump status.
As SFC Davila has indicated, if you can't deal with it with only 4-hours sleep, then you need to look for another profession. This is truly a profound comment. The Military has no room for 'snibblers'.
Remember the Army promises only up to 4-hours rest per day, and I was told that they could give it to me in 15 minute blocks which happened more often than I want to think about.

This sounds like a safety issue. If you’re coming off duty at a late hour then it looks like the leadership might need to look at the schedule. There is a requirement to be fit but the safety has to be ensured as well. Getting off duty after midnight and being in formation less than six hours later doesn’t pass the safety requirements. You should express your concerns with your chain of command. Use the open door policy as you work your way up the chain starting with your first line supervisor.

I got to ask how or why your even in the mitary. Do you get rest breaks in war by the enemy because you didn't get your beauty sleep. This is what's wrong with our military today. My suggestion to you is you either Soldier up or get out and work at Arby's.

Sorry to sound un-sympathetic, but suck it up buttercup!

The fact that you are whining about this tells me that you have led too soft a life while in the service,

It was routine for me and those I served with to run Pt with little or no sleep. Try going 5 days with only about 1 hour of sleep per night and then running 6 miles. No, we weren't infantry, so I can't speak to what my grunt counter parts went through, but I'm assuming they had it a bit tougher than I did. We were computer programmers and operators, so we had shift workers as well.

Perform your responsibilities as the duty driver, duty NCO or assistant duty for 24 hours, then go run your 3-6 miles and enjoy the half day off starting at noon.

Life is hard, but should you ever have to go into a combat zone, it will be much harder. If you can't handle it now, get out. Remember, you volunteered for this life. Nobody forced you to join the army. Complete your tour of duty with honor and quit yer bitchin'!

Near the end of my tour in Vietnam, if you were in camp it was 12hours work, 12 guard duty on the wire, 12 work and then you could sleep or try to sleep. Repeat!

First, absent excusal or exemption,you have to go to PT as directed, even if you're only going to get 4-5 hours of sleep.

That said, it is an unwise way to have a unit accomplish effective physical training and maximize performance from your troops, to not take into account swing shift duty troops. It also doesn't consider troop welfare, especially given that you can obviously do PT on an adjusted schedule that allows for adequate rest. You need to communicate your obvious and reasonable concern to your FLL and let him or her know that it needs to be addressed. If it isn't, you should 100% use your open door policy, and speak with the Company Commander, but ensure you communicate to your FLL that you are going to exercise that option if he is unable to help you get a solution.

If you were going to be limited to 5 hours of sleep because of your off-duty activities, like a second job or because you were out drinking, that would be on you. If the army is requiring you to regularly be on duty until 0000, your leadership needs to find a way to get you adequate rest periods between duty. The human body needs more sleep for quality decision making and optimal performance, as well as physical and mental health.

Is this a joke? Suck it up and do as you are ordered to do. With that attitude you will never become more than a Jr. enlisted.

As both a junior enlisted and a NCO I had plenty of days I only slept only 3-4 hours as others have said they do/did (once my commander & I only had one hour of sleep in three days and still did everything everyone else did). There is no reason for you to not do PT unless you have something medically preventing you from doing any/all of the required exercises. You could sleep 8-3, get up, have a quick breakfast, get dressed for & go to work, eat lunch at work, get off, change into civics/sweats and have a light dinner, watch some tv, pay bills online, etc. then change into pt’s, go to training, take a shower when done, go to sleep and start again the next day.

4-5 hours! That was about the MAXIMUM sleep I ever got. I'd have to say you need to buck up and do as instructed by the Top.

Well it's been two months since this was posted; how did you resolve it? My thoughts would be personal time 00:00-05:30, PT till 06:30 then sleep away till 14:30. And if only 5 people in a company came for PT I'd expect there to be some other changes also going to be happening.