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 have a problem with your NCO's not your 1SG or Commander, The senior enlisted IE platoon, squad leaders and section NCO's, use the open door policy if your direct supervisor can't help. If you have been counseled monthly and if reflects that you have had no problems I see no point why a 1sg wouldn't fix the problem unless you have shitty leadership and chain of command.

So you can't sleep after PT, your shift don't start till 1600.

Go to PT and keep your mouth shut.

Your command isn’t the problem.

Go and do not he best you can. If you get lucky endorphin will kick in and you'll be wide awake all day. The best high you'll ever get.

Finish your enlistment and do the military a favor and get out!!!

I've been thinking through this and I realized that at age 60 I'm getting 4.5 to 5 hours of sleep per night. I get up at 0430 to run; work from 0800 to 1700 or 1800, hang out with my family, and get to sleep by 2300 or 0000. Every day. As a civilian. This is just to say that people function in 5 hours of sleep all the time. But, if I were 1SG, I'd have my section leader conduct PT at an appropriate time for my shift workers. In this case, PT for the section would be at around 1400.

I read this and almost, almost collapsed in tears! This situation is so incredibly cruel! Is so ........OH BULLSHIT! Yes your working in a nice clean hospital, good chow and comfy little bed I am sure. Its clear you are NOT a field medic! And I hope with what you wrote you never will be. First,I for one don't know how many times I rolled at 0500, laced boots and hit the parade ground, after 15 minutes of down time from an all night attempt to drink everyone else at the table under it. This after starting the day before at 0500. Granted, I was a lot younger than I am now, but point is it can be done, repeatedly. Also, I hope I can safely assume that your time has always been in CONUS. Or way far away from any combat situation. With what is disturbing you now, combat would have killed you. Or your Grunts would have, listening to you snivel. Cupcake, I don't know you. I am only drawing a conclusion from what you have stated. You really need to buck your ass up and get with the program. There will come a time in your life that you are gonna have to look back at your service, look yourself in the eye at the mirror, and either be proud of the job you did, voluntarily, or consider never letting anyone know what you did or how you did it. We, all of us, have parts that we have to perform, to the best of our ability, to make sure of mission success. Big or little jobs, they all have to be done. Shit hits the fan in your life, you are now self discovering what you are down deep. Do it for yourself and that gets it done for all. The old saying is true......"Pick your ass up, you can sleep when your dead"! Just sayin' ..............

All this bravado and posturing is hilarious. These responses have turned into a dick measuring contest. This is exactly why retention rate is bad in some career fields. I sympathize with the poster as my military career was also shift work. I would recommend taking it up the chain with your valid concerns.

Go to PT

This can't be real. Is this a joke?

Question: How can I solve this problem?
Answer: PT

Honestly just do it. We've all had to do more on less sleep. Sometimes missions were requiredwith less than 2 hrs of sleep with the mission being 24 hrs. Quit being a whiny ass and just deal with it. It's a bit of pt. Waaaah

You would not make it as a Navy Hospital Corpsman with the Marines. Seriously!

Man I miss the good old days! Are you really trying to tell us you aren’t tough enough to be a medical laboratory specialist? You can survive this. If there is anything I know about the army is that with patience comes change. Your situation will change.

PT isn’t mandatory at first formation? I’d say do your PT and then go back to bed, 5 hours is plenty of sleep to get up and do a hour of PT.

Your First Sergeant isn't an idiot. You will not successfully use regulations to cause a change in this policy because the policy exists to serve the commander's interests. Your Brigade Commander has been embarrassed by the Corps Commander on the issue of PT, and the number of profiles. Your Brigade Commander has reviewed the Companies, and your company is the one getting the attention right now.
There are two things you can do. First you can understand that it will be a temporary policy of no more than 2 weeks to a month.
Secondly, you can communicate this to anyone you supervise, and to the hospital civilian staff as a safety issue that they need to be aware of. Make sure you and your privates, if you have any, make arrangements with spouses/roommates - possibly even the hospital itself - that they go to sleep immediately after their shifts and get another nap before work if you can manage it. You don't want you or one of your soldiers to be the cause of the end of the policy, because it will reveal you as the weakest of the candidate NCO's.
The policy will end one of three ways: 1) The Company improves PT scores/ Profiles / or similar that got the Commander noticed. 2) Someone has a fender bender caused by sleep deprivation. 3) The Commander of the Hospital/ Defense Health raises the issue of patient safety due to sleep deprived soldiers and suggests reduced soldier involvement in the Hospitals.
From Defense Health's perspective soldier Medics are in hospitals purely to keep them trained in medical tasks. Anything that gets their attention as to the safety of that arrangement will go straight to the Four-Star level, guessing where you are that is probably FORSCOM Commander, and will trigger a chain of events that ends the policy for your company.
#1 is the most likely end to the policy. #2 is the next most likely. #3 will require a severe incident that is unlikely because it will take a severe incident to get the Hospital Commander/Defense Health's attention.

What happened to just following orders? Granted, I joined the military 56 years ago, and some things have changed. The draft is gone and now the military is an all voluntary organization . That doesn't mean orders are voluntary. Just shut the hell up and do what you are ordered to do! As I see it you have two choices, (1) follow orders and when your time is up, leave, or (2) make rank and change what you do not like. If you can't follow a simple order in a safe environment, what are going to do in a combat situation? Hesitate, refuse, open up a dialogue? You need to learn self discipline. Orders are given for reasons such as character, confidence, health and body building and teaching discipline. At times, in ones career, an order can be way out of line and going over ones supervisor to his boss to correct the problem is the correct way to handle the problem. Unless it is life threatening, obey the order. Just my two cents worth from old man. Stay safe.

Join Space Force

This thread is an oldie, but a goodie. And these comments are awesome. Every so often I wonder if I made the right choice in getting out after my first term (with an extra year tacked on for funsies). These comments remove all doubt that I made the right decision.

I deployed for half of my 5 years. Did the 36 hours straight due to combat necessity (and I was a pogue). Did 12 on 12 “offs” for months on end. That wasn’t actually the part that bothered me. What bothered me was the garrison army mentality prior to Iraq kicking off. As a lower enlisted with a bunch of non-deployed NCO’s and O’s who just had to make things harder than they needed to be.

Luckily it got a bit better after everyone had a tour or two under their belts. After that first 16 month deployment the good leaders realized that yes, you need to get your job and your training done. But damn, once that’s done, go enjoy your life a bit. Spend time with your family if you have one. Maybe with that kid who you missed a whole bunch of firsts with. Or a 3 year old who really has no memory of you in person.

Train hard, but play/rest hard too. Because those deployments are long, and there’s a whole lot of suck during them.

Or just come in right in the middle of your “off time” for some PT.

PS - Army PT sucked anyway. I’ve been in way better shape and physically trained way more effectively the 15 years that I’ve been out than I ever did while in.

You be at PT when told to do so. And YES you are whining. Suck it up buttercup!