# Anyone ever been executed for sleeping on the job? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 30, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-been-executed-for-sleeping-on-the-job/470282 "2008-10-30T18:03:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-been-executed-for-sleeping-on-the-job/470282/1 "2008-10-30T18:03:07Z")
[This Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_while_on_duty) makes the following claim: > [@](#): > > In war time, if a sentry falls asleep on duty, he may face the death penalty under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Has this ever been enforced? I can’t imagine it and I really can’t imagine it being enforced today. It seems like it it’s one of those laws/codes passed when it was country first and humanity a close second. Would it ever hold up in today’s more civil-minded world? ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-been-executed-for-sleeping-on-the-job/470282/2 "2008-10-30T18:14:08Z")
It happened twice [in the British Army in World War One](http://hyperbear.blogspot.com/2006/08/britain-to-pardon-men-executed-in.html) (only a blog but I have heard the same figures from more reliable sources, but can’t find a link to them). I imagine it was also pretty common in other armys during WW2, and even later than that. ---
**Author:** ![mbedell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mbedell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbedell)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-been-executed-for-sleeping-on-the-job/470282/3 "2008-10-30T18:22:11Z")
Not sure where you found that but I think I can asnwer this. I was in the Air Force in the 1990’s and I can tell you that I saw SP’s sleeping on duty “several” times. Some of the guard shacks are in remote areas and some cant hep but fall asleep. However, it was not wartime. I was in a communications squadron, working 3rd shift ( 6 - 6) and I had an airman sneak off and go to sleep behind some equipmenet racks. He was completely worthless. So, to answer your question, the miltary DOES NOT enforce it. However, if you are a marine in Iraq you might be held to higher standards. It will be interesting to see what additional responses you get. Mark ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-been-executed-for-sleeping-on-the-job/470282/4 "2008-10-30T18:34:16Z")
There’s a really sad YA novel about it, I believe in WWI. It did indeed happen in the 20th century. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-been-executed-for-sleeping-on-the-job/470282/5 "2008-10-30T18:46:37Z")
There was a very good reason for such a draconian sentence. A sentry asleep on duty could have been responsible for the whole unit being slaughtered by a surprise enemy attack. Far less likely, of course, these days, with electronic surveilance, etc, which is why such a penalty would be out of place now. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-been-executed-for-sleeping-on-the-job/470282/6 "2008-10-30T18:47:07Z")
> [@mbedell](#): > > However, if you are a marine in Iraq you might be held to higher standards. Isn’t that the case with alot of military crimes. Isn’t the difference between AWOL and desertion to do with your proximity to the front ? ---
**Author:** ![mbedell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mbedell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbedell)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-been-executed-for-sleeping-on-the-job/470282/7 "2008-10-30T18:56:58Z")
_Isn’t the difference between AWOL and desertion to do with your proximity to the front ?_ Not that I am aware of. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-been-executed-for-sleeping-on-the-job/470282/8 "2008-10-30T18:57:12Z")
> **[1998 Urban Legend: Christmas Roast](https://darwinawards.com/legends/legends1998-11.html)** > > 1998 Urban Legend: Christmas Roast: Telephone relay company night watchman Edward Baker, 31, was killed early Christmas morning by excessive microwave radiation exposure. He was apparently attempting to keep warm next to a telecommunications... does that count? ok not quite the same ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-been-executed-for-sleeping-on-the-job/470282/9 "2008-10-30T18:58:55Z")
> [@mbedell](#): > > _Isn’t the difference between AWOL and desertion to do with your proximity to the front ?_ > > Not that I am aware of. According to wikipedia that is a factor: > [@](#): > > However, as a matter of U.S. military law, desertion is not measured by time away from the unit, but rather: > > ``` > * by leaving or remaining absent from their unit, organization, or place of duty, where there has been a determined intent to not return; > * **if that intent is determined to be to avoid hazardous duty** or shirk important responsibility; > * if they enlist or accept an appointment in the same or another branch of service without disclosing the fact that they have not been properly separated from current service. > > ``` ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-been-executed-for-sleeping-on-the-job/470282/10 "2008-10-30T19:06:19Z")
> [@BrandonR](#): > > Has this ever been enforced? I can’t imagine it and I really can’t imagine it being enforced today. It seems like it it’s one of those laws/codes passed when it was country first and humanity a close second. Would it ever hold up in today’s more civil-minded world? I can certainly imagine it. In the right circumstances I might kill him myself. Say, a sleeping sentry allowed an enemy infiltration of a camp in the middle of the night, resulting in the deaths of his fellow soldiers. Or a sleeping sentry failed to see a small boat approaching a warship, which exploded and sunk the ship. Or a sleeping sentry failed to spot a fire starting in a barracks, again killing his comrades. Military sentry duty is not always like the night watchman job at a junkyard, especially in wartime. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-been-executed-for-sleeping-on-the-job/470282/11 "2008-10-30T21:10:58Z")
Abraham Lincoln was notorious for commuting the death sentences of sleeping sentries. You can read the story of one such [here](http://www.grotonvt.com/AboutGroton/Groton%20Sleeping%20Sentinel.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-been-executed-for-sleeping-on-the-job/470282/12 "2008-10-30T21:29:59Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Abraham Lincoln was notorious for commuting the death sentences of sleeping sentries. You can read the story of one such [here](http://www.grotonvt.com/AboutGroton/Groton%20Sleeping%20Sentinel.htm). Yeah, there’s a billion silent films of Lincoln pardoning sentries. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-been-executed-for-sleeping-on-the-job/470282/13 "2008-10-31T04:41:56Z")
I always laughed when the enemy did it for us. Way back when in a place I was, the camp CO was kinda hard ass about that. One poor idiot had guard duty the last night before rotation back to the states. The CO himself caught him. He did 6 months bad time in barbwire city before he got to rotate back. Bawhahahaha ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-been-executed-for-sleeping-on-the-job/470282/14 "2008-10-31T06:30:07Z")
My dad was a US marine in the late 40s in China. He said the standard was if someone could walk up and snatch your rifle away, you were considered asleep at your post, so they would wrap the strap around their hand and kind of have a standing nap. He said they would also hold a lit cigarette between your fingers and it would burn down to your fingers and wake you up before you slept more than a few minutes. No one was getting executed of course, but they would beat the living crap out of you when he was in the service. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-ever-been-executed-for-sleeping-on-the-job/470282/15 "2008-10-31T07:40:44Z")
The Romans executed sleeping sentries.