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posted by martyb on Monday November 26 2018, @08:41AM   Printer-friendly
from the plenty-of-time-to-sleep-when-you're-in-the-ground dept.

The Virginian-Pilot reports: https://pilotonline.com/news/military/local/article_eec71122-ecfd-11e8-bc0e-73bf42b0bc87.html

Anyone who has driven home late at night after being up for more than 18 hours knows the inevitable drooping eyelids and wheel jerking that can result. I was once in a conversation where the argument was made that driving tired was far more dangerous than being drunk (YMMV)

In recognition of this truth that all late night drivers realize sooner or later, the U.S. Navy has decided that driving their ships should only be done while alert and awake. To this end:

All Navy sailors working aboard aircraft carriers are now being given the chance to get eight hours of uninterrupted sleep per 24-hour period after a change in policy in the wake of two fatal collisions that killed 17 crew members in the Pacific Fleet in summer 2017.

The change extends to all carrier sailors, not just those working in aviation-related jobs, said Lt. Travis Callaghan, a spokesman for the Pacific Coast-based Commander, Naval Air Forces. It also makes it mandatory that all aircraft carrier sailors are not to be scheduled for more than 18 hours of continuous duties requiring them to remain awake. Previously, that was a recommendation that only applied to flight crews.

The article continues

"The longer you're awake, you're just basically, essentially, performing under the influence of your own fatigue, but just not alcohol," Rice said. "No one would say, 'I'm driving a little drunk,' to your skipper but we often will say, 'I'm a little tired.' "

I'm not sure why one would intentionally run sailors routinely to the point that if they had to keep going during an emergency they would potentially be starting in a sleep deprived state, but there you are. Perhaps someone that has more perspective on the Navy can explain it.


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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 26 2018, @05:54PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 26 2018, @05:54PM (#766516)

    On a constant and ongoing state, no.

    On an occasional state? Your enemy is NOT going to respect that the battle has been going on for twenty hours and thus you deserve some rack time. He's going to try to kill you anyway. And the soldier or sailor who doesn't realize this and outfit that doesn't train for that possibility WILL lose the battle.

    Dunno about Navy or Air Force, but I know that both Army and Marines have training exercises that can simulate this, starting from boot camp. Experienced one (yeah, way back in them olden days...) and was told about The Crucible from two jarheads who are blood.

    A soldier is a soldier 24/7 and will at all times during duty be prepared to kill. Hoorah.

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