Napping

Nap Master

In my normal life, I’m not much of a napper. There was a time back in college where sneaking in 5 minute power naps between classes was an art form only perfected by individuals who’s free time is tightly regulated. Back then, I was a self proclaimed “rack master”, trying to make up sleep throughout the day that I missed out on the night before. As school life moved onto the real world, I lost my knack to nap as most employers frown on sleeping in your cubicle between meetings, but I often longed to curl up under my desk at work and catch a few Z’s before the next teleconference.

Now, in my current situation I’ve discovered that napping, much like riding a bike, is a skill you don’t lose. I think I’ve napped more in the past 3 days than I have for the better part of the last decade. And I’m not talking short little naps because you are bored and don’t want to engage in any time consuming activities between appointments. I’m talking 2 to 3 hours of full on power racking! And, in my defense, I’m not the only one participating in this new deployment pastime. It’s not uncommon to walk into our tent and find 90% of the group sprawled out on their cots in a comma-like sleep (the other 10% are usually just getting up from a nap or about to lie down for their next installment of Slumber Fest 2007). This is no easy feat as there is a constant drone of generators around the tent, the roar of helicopters buzzing and the whipping wind of the sand storms shaking the frame of our quarters. Despite these distracters (and a few snoring folks that have followed me all the way from Benning), we forge on with our pursuit of sugarplum visions and REM dreams. I hypothesize that sleep begets sleep, or seeing other people in the horizontal siesta position makes others want lie down and doze off for just a little while, and that is why I’m napping so much, or at least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. I’m not sure how napping in an air conditioned tent is suppose to get us ready for operating in the cities and deserts of Iraq, but let’s just say that we are fully trained to take on any enemy that wants to challenge us to a sleep off.