The 18th Airborne Corps has issued a new directive mandating that soldiers assigned to staff duty must receive at least four consecutive hours of sleep during their shift. The memo, signed by Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue, the commanding general of the 18th Airborne Corps, was published over the weekend and emphasizes the importance of rest for soldiers performing these duties.
The memo outlines the logistics for ensuring that soldiers adhere to this new sleep requirement. It specifies that the staff duty noncommissioned officer will develop a rotation plan to allow soldiers to get the required rest without leaving the staff duty desk unattended. The staff duty officer can also step in if necessary to maintain the schedule. Units are explicitly instructed not to hold soldiers past their shift to accommodate this sleep requirement.
Maj. David Nixon, an operations officer for the 18th Airborne Corps, recommended the sleep guidelines as part of his duties to identify issues and propose solutions. Nixon highlighted the need for this policy to improve mental acuity and reduce the possibility of accidents while on the job. He pointed out that addressing sleep deprivation is a straightforward but often overlooked solution.
“Lack of sleep among active duty service members has led to fatal accidents and hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to ships, vehicles, and aircraft,” said the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in a report to Congress in late March. The GAO’s report emphasized that sleep deprivation among service members poses significant risks to their performance and safety.
The 18th Airborne Corps’ memo also encourages units to identify other areas where sleep should be leveraged to reduce the risk of accident or injury. While there are no immediate plans for expansion, Nixon sees potential for implementing similar sleep requirements in other aspects of military operations, such as at the end of training cycles to ensure troops are rested before returning to base.
As the 18th Airborne Corps moves forward with this policy, it marks a significant step towards addressing the pervasive issue of sleep deprivation in the military, with the goal of improving both the well-being and performance of its soldiers.
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