Fatigue Management

Skills need to be reinforced to such a level that the
individual will act instinctively when stressed or fatigued.
The fatigue factor may at times be overlooked during
training in Australia. It was a significant contributor to
unauthorised discharges of weapons.
Lessons Learned and Confirmed section,
1 RAR Bn Gp Post-operation Report for Operation SOLACE,
Somalia, dated 31 May 1993
Aim
This guide provides commanders with information on how to recognise and
reduce the effects of fatigue associated with sleep loss. The use of fatigue
management techniques can help reduce or prevent fatigue and thereby
maximise work output and performance under demanding operational
conditions. It is likely that commanders will be held increasingly accountable
for accidents and poor decisions among subordinate staff if preventable
fatigue is a factor in these incidents. Basic information is presented on:
a. the human need for sleep,
b. the consequences of sleep loss,
c. causes and signs of fatigue,
d. the effects of sleep loss and fatigue on performance,
e. methods for preventing fatigue, and
f. management techniques for chronic fatigue.
Some of the COs were awfully heartless and brutal. A few
had no idea about how to command men or judge a
soldier's capabilities. Too often they would order young
boys to lug a dead weight for miles, and when the young
fellows reached the front they would be too exhausted to
fight. I have seen them in tears, too tired to struggle on.
They furnished an easy target for enemy gunners. More
than one frail, green kid got cut down due to such
incompetence in officers' ranks.
PTE Vincent E. Goodwin
World War I Diary
xvii