Should all Soldiers be required to take a sleep study every year to identify and treat sleep apnea in Soldiers to reduce accidents?

SN Greg Wright - That makes sense,

Sleep Apnea can happen at any age, any weight. It has more to do with the throat and soft palette than weight. In fact, there is significant clinical evidence that weight gain is a product of sleep apnea rather than a cause of sleep apnea. Not very nice to label such a terrible condition as a fat thing. Its kind of like saying that STDs are mostly a Navy problem.

My VA doc says 75% of Americans have it just don't know it.

SSgt Michael Cox - That is horrible to hear but wouldn't surprise me either.

Couldn't agree more.

My sleep study was done at my apartment in my bed since it the machine was attached to my wrist with probes on two figures and the base of my neck. The cost isn't even a consideration since the only cost is one time for the machine it self and the two 15 min appointments with the tech. The big problem is the medical separation and then filing your VA disability claim for Sleep Apnea which is 50%.

How expensive is it to make SGLI payments for loss of life, to replace all the equipment that gets destroyed, and all of the investigations that occur every time a wreck happens after troops have fallen asleep? When I was in, at least once a month safety messages would come down the e-mail traffic to senior leaders when Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, and Airmen would fall asleep at the wheel, especially when there was a fatality. and more and more have been found to suffer from sleep apnea. I have a feeling the costs are going to come down for testing when it becomes mandatory to renew your drivers license to be checked for sleep apnea, and the military starts looking for cheaper methods of conducting a sleep study. In any case, the question will become a moot point if states start making some requirements related to sleep apnea for license renewal. I don't know about other branches, but in the Army you have to have a civilian license to have a military license for over the road vehicles, and since a very small percentage of our military vehicles fly, that means the vast majority of the troops have to have a license to drive.

CSM, I agree. I don't know how many times safety messages were sent down about Soldiers falling asleep at the wheel in a tactical vehicle or a POV. When the Army takes loss of life and equipment damage due to troops falling asleep, then everyone wonders why no one did anything about it. Families are devastated, we lose valuable assets in personnel and equipment, and careers of good Senior Leaders are ruined in the fallout.