Polyphasic What?

One of the reasons Seth is happy to be at Ghazni is Polyphasic Sleep. A ployphasic Sleep Cycle is not a new idea, but trying it with the soldiers of the 3-116th was a new idea. In a few words it means compressing a day's worth of sleep into short naps. I looked it up and here's what I found:
Polyphasic sleep (also known as the Uberman sleep schedule and Dymaxion Sleep) is a sleep pattern specification intended to compress sleep time to 2-5 hours daily. This is achieved by spreading out sleep into short (around 20-45 minute) naps throughout the day. This allows for more waking hours with relatively high alertness.
This is an excellent method for using natural human sleep mechanisms to maximize alertness and where sleep time needs to be minimized, but requires a rigid schedule which make it unfeasible for most. It can work well for people who cannot afford sleep (e.g. sailors).
The theory is that ordinary monophasic sleep consists of many cycles, only a few of which is needed for survival. REM sleep, occurring quite late in the sequence, is commonly believed to be one of them. It is believed that after being deprived of sleep during an adjustment period, the brain will start to enter the required stages much quicker - with the result that each short nap contains almost solely of such sleep. Some theories of sleep suggest that REM is largely responsible for the mental rejuvenation effects of sleep, but the role of REM sleep has in recent years been disputed. It has been documented that depriving rats of REM sleep specifically leads to death in 3 to 8 weeks (that doesn't happen with depriving test animals of other specific sleep phases), but it has also been documented that humans survive without REM sleep. Since polyphasic sleepers get a lot of Stage 4 NREM and REM sleep, they may achieve higher alertness levels than those who do not know the art of catnapping.
Concern has been expressed about the long-term effects of suppressing the other sleep stages, although no long-term side effects have been documented yet. Some negative effects may be unrelated to this particular schedule, but to the general lack of sleep. It has been shown that lack of sleep weakens the immune system, decreases the amount of growth hormone produced and decreases the ability of the body to metabolize sugar, but since polyphasic sleep is completely different from simply sleeping less, it is difficult to apply such research to polyphasic sleep.
Several famous people applied catnapping to a large extent. These include Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison and Buckminster Fuller. Other figures said to be associated with polyphasic sleep experimentation include Nikola Tesla, Napoleon, and Winston Churchill. This method was also popularized on Seinfeld, where the character Cosmo Kramer attempted to adapt to a polyphasic sleeping pattern.
Boat racers use this technique to avoid dangers at sea. Astronauts use this technique during extended crises, and military personnel, especially marines, use this technique in training.
One of the leading advocates of polyphasic sleep research is Dr. Claudio Stampi (Founder and Director of the Chronobiology Research Institute in Boston, Massachusetts).
They don't try this at Ghazne......and Seth is happy!

Change of Scenery

Seth is now at the Forward Operating Base in Ghazni......We talked to him this morning and he's happy for the change of pace from Bagram. They traveled five hours by convoy to reach the new base. According to Seth they traveled through Kabul which was interesting. Since arriving at Ghazni not much has happened. When they are at the base they have a two hour duty to complete each day. Seth's duty right now is monitoring the Morale Tent where the telephones and computers are. It's his job to make sure that soldiers don't stay on the phone or on the computer longer than they're supposed too. Not bad work if you can get it ---a big difference from sitting in a tower for twelve hours. He said Ghazni is much more laid back and relaxed. The accomodations are not as good, the food is worse (he has a leaky roof in his hooch right over his bed) , but he's happy to be there. They'll probably head out on their first patrol next week but Seth's not sure if he'll be part of that operation. When they do go out they're out for days at a time.

Honoring the Fallen

Troops at Bagram pay tribute to fallen in Chinook crash; death toll rises to 18
Bodies will be flown to Dover AF Base for positive identification

By Kent Harris, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Sunday, April 10, 2005

Michael Abrams / S&S Servicemembers and civilians line the road to the Bagram Air Base flight line as they wait for the procession of Humvees carrying the coffins of the 18 victims of Wednesday’s helicopter crash near Ghazni, to a U.S. Air Force C-17, seen in the background.

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan — Hundreds of soldiers, airmen and Marines stood shoulder to shoulder Saturday to say farewell — and pay respect — to 18 fellow Americans killed Wednesday in a helicopter crash.

The death toll increased from 16 to 18 after the military found the remains of two more American soldiers among the wreckage.

Sailors, civilians and servicemembers from other countries were interspersed along the route. Those in uniform stood in solemn attention as each Humvee carrying a flag-draped coffin slowly passed by on its way to a C-17 Globemaster waiting on the taxiway.

The brief fallen comrade ceremony was the first base-wide event marking the deaths of the servicemembers and civilians who died Wednesday after their CH-47 Chinook helicopter went down near Ghazni, apparently after a severe change in weather.

More bad weather initially hampered efforts by the mortuary affairs team based at Bagram to reach the site of the accident, about 80 miles southwest of Kabul. The team drove to the site Friday and transported the remains back to Bagram.

The bodies were to be flown to Dover Air Force Base, Del., for positive identification, according to Navy Lt. Cindy Moore, a spokeswoman for the combined forces in Afghanistan.

Moore said the 18 remains were of 15 servicemembers and three U.S. civilian contractors. She said their names will not be released until tests on the remains are completed in Dover.

The roads around base were cleared of traffic Saturday morning before the ceremony started. Servicemembers were told where to line up via the “Giant Voice” intercom system that makes frequent announcements across the base.

Troops offered salutes to the coffins in each vehicle. The vehicles passed through the runway checkpoint and continued along until coming to a stop next to another large group of servicemembers standing in rows near the tail of the C-17.

The lines of troops on either side of the road broke apart after the convoy passed, but dozens of servicemembers and civilians walked past the normally closed checkpoint to see the rest of the ceremony.

The coffins were unloaded simultaneously and carried behind a color guard onto the plane. The plane’s ramp closed. The Humvees peeled off in two lines in a sort of formation of their own. Most of the crowd dispersed.

Some people lingered behind, tears in their eyes. Hugs were exchanged and shoulders were offered as support.

A few minutes later, a pair of A-10 Thunderbolt IIs flew off on a mission and traffic resumed on the base roads.

Laura goes to Bagram

WASHINGTON, March 31, 2005 – “We support you, we believe in you, and we’re proud of you.” That was the message first lady Laura Bush carried to U.S. troops at Bagram Air Base during her March 30 visit to Afghanistan.

The visit with U.S. servicemembers deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom topped off a six-hour, whirlwind visit through Afghanistan, during which the first lady offered support to Afghan women in their struggle for more rights and reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to expanded educational opportunities for women and children.

At Bagram Air Base, Bush praised the troops for making these advances possible and thanked them for their service and sacrifice. “Every day you’re protecting the rights and liberties all of us hold dear,” she said. “You’re also bringing opportunity and security to people who have known years of cruel oppression.”

We talked to Seth early Friday morning. On the topic of Laura Bush he noted that the grunts don't get to see the VIP's - just the effects of them. Her visit just meant more hours on patrol to guarantee her safety and a general disruption of base routine. He said that most people just wish the bigwigs would stay away. Other than that everything is going well.......