Post by Herb on Dec 17, 2007 17:42:35 GMT -5
Sleep Deprivation has come up in a couple of threads, most recently "Travis's Leadership" and I thought it might be worthwhile to have a brief discussion about it and perhaps some of the other hardships the garrison experienced.
As was recently pointed out, most of us in our modern society are far removed from the physical hardships that the garrison experienced during their 12 day siege. It's really hard for me to think of a modern occupation that even comes close to the prolonged harsh realities they faced.
But, anyway, back to sleep deprivation. Everybody is familiar with the average person's need for 8 hours sleep a day. While there is considerable difference between individuals, it's pretty much a fact that the vast majority of people need 7 - 9 hours of night. This need varies somewhat with age, with younger adults generally needing more then middle age or older adults.
The effects of sleep deprivation is accumulative and can only be corrected by making up most of the sleep that has been lost. Many people during their work week, don't get the amount of sleep they truly need every night, find that by Friday they're tired and more prone to mental mistakes, they correct their problems by "sleeping in' on the weekends, and starting the cycle all over on Monday.
In the Military it's a much more severe problem. In combat, or combat training, there is no true down time, for sleep. 24 hour operations are the norm, and no country mans its ground units with sufficient numbers to allow true shift work. Key leaders can generally function 48-72 hours without sleep before they collapse or become totally useless. Once a person reaches that point of collapse, they are going into such a deep sleep that it will be extremely hard to wake them and when they do wake they will face a short period of confusion and disorientation. They may possibly be so befuddled that they will not react to even a immediate life endangering threat. During the 80s, the US Army did some extensive studies on sleep deprivation and how to minimize its effects.
One of the first things that must be overcome is the "stud" factor, if you will. Men, especially young men, want to prove themselves, and naturally tend to try to gut things out until they collapse. So a sleep plan has to be enforced, just like any other plan. The second thing that must be accomplished is there is a tendency for the responsible people, the leaders, to look out for everyone but themselves. Yet the first functions that are lost are the mental functions that the leaders are responsible for providing. The third thing that happens is that the 18 - 20 year old private will get the maximum sleep possible - he'll find a way. So while it's important that a sleep plan includes everybody, extra emphasis has to be placed on the leaders/decision-makers.
Now a sleep plan sounds great, but what we're really talking about is insuring that leaders get 4 hours of sleep in every 24 hours, preferably 4 hours together. IF a person can get 4 hours a day, they can mentally function and physically function for a prolonged period. In Bosnia we found that period was about 3-5 weeks. 4 hours a day is the absolute minimum requirement. But, this is what we know today, what about 1836.
First off, those first couple of days, nobody slept much, the sudden appearance of the Mexican Army, and the immediate fear they instilled kept the defenders at least initially at high alert and probably only dozing off and on. After that first 24 - 48 hours, the garrison would realize that they had to sleep, and they probably recognized that the Long Barracks and other hard roofed buildings provided reasonable protection from the howitzer fire. Except when on guard duty, preparing their meals, work details, and nervously watching the Mexican Army they probably stayed in the buildings as much as possible and tried to sleep.
Now, how would a nightly bombardment such as at the Alamo effect sleep? From analyzing the number of rounds fired, there was an average of only one or two rounds fired an hour. This would have had a far greater impact on sleep than a constant bombardment would. Provided you had overhead cover and were reasonably safe in the barracks, a person would soon adapt to the noise of a near constant bombardment and though it would be an uneasy sleep, would still be able to sleep through it. An irregular bombardment, though, which the evidence indicates, every explosion would awake you, and the adrenaline surge would make it difficult to go back to sleep - until you reached that point of collapse.
Now, stopping the bombardment, on the night of March 5th, would provide a virtually resistless condition for sleep. BUT, unless there was a reason for the bombardment to have ceased, or it had ceased at night occasionally before, it should have also provided the garrison another red flag that something was about to happen. But, then again mental reasoning is the first function degraded by a lack of sleep.
As was recently pointed out, most of us in our modern society are far removed from the physical hardships that the garrison experienced during their 12 day siege. It's really hard for me to think of a modern occupation that even comes close to the prolonged harsh realities they faced.
But, anyway, back to sleep deprivation. Everybody is familiar with the average person's need for 8 hours sleep a day. While there is considerable difference between individuals, it's pretty much a fact that the vast majority of people need 7 - 9 hours of night. This need varies somewhat with age, with younger adults generally needing more then middle age or older adults.
The effects of sleep deprivation is accumulative and can only be corrected by making up most of the sleep that has been lost. Many people during their work week, don't get the amount of sleep they truly need every night, find that by Friday they're tired and more prone to mental mistakes, they correct their problems by "sleeping in' on the weekends, and starting the cycle all over on Monday.
In the Military it's a much more severe problem. In combat, or combat training, there is no true down time, for sleep. 24 hour operations are the norm, and no country mans its ground units with sufficient numbers to allow true shift work. Key leaders can generally function 48-72 hours without sleep before they collapse or become totally useless. Once a person reaches that point of collapse, they are going into such a deep sleep that it will be extremely hard to wake them and when they do wake they will face a short period of confusion and disorientation. They may possibly be so befuddled that they will not react to even a immediate life endangering threat. During the 80s, the US Army did some extensive studies on sleep deprivation and how to minimize its effects.
One of the first things that must be overcome is the "stud" factor, if you will. Men, especially young men, want to prove themselves, and naturally tend to try to gut things out until they collapse. So a sleep plan has to be enforced, just like any other plan. The second thing that must be accomplished is there is a tendency for the responsible people, the leaders, to look out for everyone but themselves. Yet the first functions that are lost are the mental functions that the leaders are responsible for providing. The third thing that happens is that the 18 - 20 year old private will get the maximum sleep possible - he'll find a way. So while it's important that a sleep plan includes everybody, extra emphasis has to be placed on the leaders/decision-makers.
Now a sleep plan sounds great, but what we're really talking about is insuring that leaders get 4 hours of sleep in every 24 hours, preferably 4 hours together. IF a person can get 4 hours a day, they can mentally function and physically function for a prolonged period. In Bosnia we found that period was about 3-5 weeks. 4 hours a day is the absolute minimum requirement. But, this is what we know today, what about 1836.
First off, those first couple of days, nobody slept much, the sudden appearance of the Mexican Army, and the immediate fear they instilled kept the defenders at least initially at high alert and probably only dozing off and on. After that first 24 - 48 hours, the garrison would realize that they had to sleep, and they probably recognized that the Long Barracks and other hard roofed buildings provided reasonable protection from the howitzer fire. Except when on guard duty, preparing their meals, work details, and nervously watching the Mexican Army they probably stayed in the buildings as much as possible and tried to sleep.
Now, how would a nightly bombardment such as at the Alamo effect sleep? From analyzing the number of rounds fired, there was an average of only one or two rounds fired an hour. This would have had a far greater impact on sleep than a constant bombardment would. Provided you had overhead cover and were reasonably safe in the barracks, a person would soon adapt to the noise of a near constant bombardment and though it would be an uneasy sleep, would still be able to sleep through it. An irregular bombardment, though, which the evidence indicates, every explosion would awake you, and the adrenaline surge would make it difficult to go back to sleep - until you reached that point of collapse.
Now, stopping the bombardment, on the night of March 5th, would provide a virtually resistless condition for sleep. BUT, unless there was a reason for the bombardment to have ceased, or it had ceased at night occasionally before, it should have also provided the garrison another red flag that something was about to happen. But, then again mental reasoning is the first function degraded by a lack of sleep.
