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Ground Truth FATIGUE: A THREAT TO MARINE READINESS
By Sgt. Eleazar Velasco, Risk Management Directorate, Safety Division
Food for Thought: Sleep is the canary in the coal mine of mental health and stress. Ask your Marines how they slept. Are they laying awake at night, anxious about relationships, finances, or staying up all night gaming? Could organizational inefficiencies be disrupting their rest?
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atigue is one of the biggest threats to Marine readiness. It doesn’t always show up as falling asleep on post. It appears in subtle ways first, such as missed details, slower reaction times or short tempers rippling through a unit. At the ground level, where missions are carried out, fatigue is part of the daily fight; but its impact on performance and safety makes it more than just a personal issue. Fatigue is also a readiness concern. Marines operate at a high tempo and pushing through exhaustion is often seen as a sign of strength. But when we’re worn out, our bodies and minds send clear signals. You’ll likely notice increased irritability, a shorter fuse and a tougher time staying patient, especially when the pressure is on. Fatigue also impacts how we work together. Communication can break down, making it harder to stay aware of what’s happening around us. We tend to focus intensely on the task at hand but lose sight of the bigger picture, leading to taking unnecessary risks and overlooking important details. Over time, being constantly tired can cause forgetfulness, a lack of motivation and poor judgment. In the worst cases, it can even lead to brief moments of falling asleep without realizing it, which is dangerous during critical operations. Recognizing these signs in yourself and your fellow Marines is crucial for mission success and, most importantly, keeping everyone safe. The science is clear. Research and findings from each of the services indicate “lack of sleep affects the brain the same way as being drunk. The result is like being on duty with a blood alcohol level of 0.08%.” Yet Marines often conduct training events, ranges
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and operations under those conditions. No one would accept a Marine being drunk on duty, yet fatigue produces a similar level of impairment. From the Marines’ perspective at the ground level, the challenge lies in recovery. Extended training schedules, night operations and duty rotations are part of the profession. The problem is recovery periods are not always built into the schedule. Without structured rest, fatigue accumulates.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently published findings from research on service members’ sleep habits and fatigue levels. The GAO found members were not getting the Department of War (DoW)-recommended minimum seven hours of sleep and fatigue had contributed to accidents resulting in deaths and hundreds of millions of dollars in damaged equipment. Across the DoW, 67% of respondents averaged six to seven hours of sleep, 26% less than six hours and 46% rated quality as moderately poor or worse. In its Sleep Leadership Guide, the DoW emphasizes service members should strive for seven to nine hours of sleep each night for optimal performance. The Marine Corps’ aviation and ground survey findings corroborate the GAO report findings on fatigue — Marines across aviation and ground have identified fatigue as a top concern for both groups, with fatigue also being identified as one of the top factors likely to cause the next mishap in their unit.