Blue Star Chronicles

Soldiers in war zones have always had to function on little or no sleep. That’s nothing new. But with the new surge in Iraq our Soldiers are functioning with less and less sleep.

I’ve wondered before how on earth out Soldiers can sleep in the COPs they are now living in.

Because of their proximity to the enemy in the COPs they have had to increase patrols and increase guard duty. Even with increased troops it leaves them with more time on duty because of the decreased security.

From Stars and Stripes

While commanders say the outposts have helped enormously in building good will among local residents, some troops complain that the plan is driving them into the ground. These troops say that they are getting even less sleep now, because in addition to conducting increased patrols in their sector, they are tasked with guard duty when they return to their outpost.

There isn’t any official rule as to how much sleep a Soldier should get, however the rule of thumb is that they should get 4 hours sleep in a 24-hour period of time.

Two soldiers attached to the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division in Baghdad’s east side said recently they had each slept only 14 hours in a week’s time.

Soldiers of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division are instructed to get at least four hours of continuous sleep every 24 hours, as well as two complete meals a day.

But some soldiers and young platoon leaders complained that the requirement has been interpreted to mean that soldiers can operate on just four hours of sleep a day for an indefinite period of time.

First Lt. Lonnie J. Harper, 24, of McKenzie, Tenn., said that the experience was very similar to Ranger School, where lack of food and sleep are infamous stressors.

“It takes a toll on you,” Harper said.

“It’s day after day with no end in sight. It’s like the madness never ends.

“The brass tells us we only need four hours of sleep. Well, that’s true to some extent, but that can’t be sustained for very long.”

On top of everything else, when they are able to sleep, their sleep is often interrupted with mortar fire. When they do sleep it’s an uneasy sleep because they are sleeping in quarters with Iraqi soldiers who may or may not be the enemy. Their living situation is so much less secure than on the FOBs so falling into a deep sleep could be a matter of life and death.

We all know what happens with sleep deprivation. irritability, compromised judgment, difficulty concentrating, and more. It is nothing short of amazing there have not been tragic incidents. It speaks to their discipline and commitment.

“A lot of people are falling asleep at the [forward operating base] gate and getting Article 15s,” said Navy Lt. Cmdr. David Moulton, a psychiatrist temporarily assigned to Ibn Sina Hospital in Baghdad.

At the hospital, run by the 28th Combat Support Hospital, “you see guys drop off their [injured] battle buddy and go to sleep on the sidewalk,” said Moulton, 37, of Hampstead, N.C.

He said he warned one commander that if he consistently deprived troops of enough sleep time, he’d lose his soldiers.

“I compare it to maintaining equipment,” Moulton said.

“If it’s not maintained, it’ll fail. Same with soldiers. They need a certain amount of maintenance or they’re going to break down.”

I think this is worsened still by the never ending deployments. When the Soldiers are deployed for a year and then told they will be extended for indefinite periods of time. When they rotate home and then told their year home will be shortened to 7 months or 9 months and they have to redeploy without a period of time to recuperate. These things only worsen the exhaustion.

As I have said many times. These few men and women are carrying the load for this entire country. They are carrying the load for the western world really. And everyone else is just going about their normal lives as though there isn’t really a war going on.

No wonder the Army is offering officers $20,000 to re-enlist. I imagine they are having difficulty keeping good officers willing to put their men in these unnecessarily dangerous situations.

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Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Is It Just Me?, The Virtuous Republic, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, Perri Nelson’s Website, Committees of Correspondence, Mark My Words, DeMediacratic Nation, Big Dog’s Weblog, DragonLady’s World, Webloggin, Cao’s Blog, The Bullwinkle Blog, The Amboy Times, Colloquium, Conservative Cat, Pursuing Holiness, Right Celebrity, third world county, stikNstein… has no mercy, The World According to Carl, Pirate’s Cove, Dumb Ox Daily News, High Desert Wanderer, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.