[quote=@Gunther]
<Snipped quote by Xandrya>I was enlisted for five years before I was commissioned. I can appreciate that. :)
The [i]work[/i] an officer does is not seen by the enlisted. I know that, having served on both sides of that coin. When we were in the field, I never got enough sleep. I had a battalion commander once who required only four hours of sleep. I was so envious of that man. He would go to sleep at 12:30AM and be up around 4:30. His driver hated life.

I recall one time leaving the company CP following an operations order brief around 12:30 AM. I went back to my platoon CP and my PSG. we took turns sleeping and listening to the radio because we had no RTO. I must have had an hour and a half sleep that night because some assholes came and attacked us at zero dark thirty. It sucked.

No, I didn't always get my 7 or 8 hours sleep.


[/quote]

I don't envy you in that aspect. One of my longest shifts while enlisted lasted roughly 19 hours, and although I was armed the entire shift, I was able to go to standby mode for some of those hours and rest, although I obviously wasn't allowed to sleep. Also, my following command had us come into work at 4 am for every shift. I was a zombie for six months and half dead inside.

But to turn that around, I turned 32 this past week and I was beyond flattered when the bartender checked to make sure I had a wristband before pouring a shot down my throat. The days they stop checking my ID and such will be a rather depressing time for me