# Snoring in the Military **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 21, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoring-in-the-military/597079 "2011-09-21T16:36:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoring-in-the-military/597079/21 "2011-09-24T04:12:25Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Hold up…you were in the army \*and \* the navy?!? To continue the hijack… My dad enlisted in the Army (Signal Corps?) and had a WWII ribbon. Then he joined the Navy and retired as a Lieutenant (O-3). Not sure of the timing, unless he took a year off between services. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoring-in-the-military/597079/22 "2011-09-24T08:27:55Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > When I was in Basic (Lackland AFB, 2007), the SOP for someone snoring was for the guy on guard duty to wake him up and tell him to find another position to sleep in (fun fact: You are more likely to snore sleeping on your back than on your side, due to how the inside of your throat is arranged). > > It occurs to me that the obvious solution is to put the loudest snorers on night guard duty. In any case, anyone trying to home in on your snoring at night should run afoul of your sentries if they are doing their jobs. Yeah, there shouldn’t ever be a situation where everyone is asleep, so if whoever’s on guard duty thinks it’s a problem, it’s their responsibility to poke the snorer until they wake up. In (Army) Basic, I just slept with my earplugs in every night. We were issued them on day one with all our uniforms, and there were always more earplugs available whenever you went to the range - I assume it’s the same for other services as well. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoring-in-the-military/597079/23 "2011-09-24T09:48:41Z")
I suspect soldiers do exactly the same thing wives (and husbands) do and have done for millennia in order of growing exasperation - whistle, clap their hands, gently prod, roll on the side, shake half-awake and when all else fails, smother. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoring-in-the-military/597079/24 "2011-09-24T10:20:20Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > Yeah, there shouldn’t ever be a situation where everyone is asleep, so if whoever’s on guard duty thinks it’s a problem, it’s their responsibility to poke the snorer until they wake up. > > In (Army) Basic, I just slept with my earplugs in every night. We were issued them on day one with all our uniforms, and there were always more earplugs available whenever you went to the range - I assume it’s the same for other services as well. We only got earplugs for our one day on the firing range, and we were told to throw them away afterwards. We had a list of things we were allowed to have, and anything else was contraband.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoring-in-the-military/597079/25 "2011-09-24T13:55:30Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > To continue the hijack… > > My dad enlisted in the Army (Signal Corps?) and had a WWII ribbon. Then he joined the Navy and retired as a Lieutenant (O-3). Not sure of the timing, unless he took a year off between services. I was enlisted as a Signaller, then left and re-joined later as an Officer in the Army and am now an AF Officer - it’s a component/environmental transfer and, depending on your trade, is usually not a big deal. Now, to snoring, my Corporal snores terribly - to the point that I am concerned for his health. He has driven people out of the area (similar to the shower stall story above). As far as sleep apnea, I would think if you were diagnosed prior to enlisting, you would not be recruited. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoring-in-the-military/597079/26 "2011-09-24T19:42:33Z")
I lived in an open barracks for almost 3 years. You just get used to the (light) snoring. Well, one day we got a guy who snored incredibly loud.The poor bastard got more pillows and boots thrown at him imaginable… Finally, a few of the clerks in personell got him transferred to Germany. Nobody asked them how they did it… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoring-in-the-military/597079/27 "2011-09-24T21:44:05Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > We only got earplugs for our one day on the firing range, and we were told to throw them away afterwards. We had a list of things we were allowed to have, and anything else was contraband.:rolleyes: Holy crap, when was this? I find that incredibly - we had a hearing test in reception, followed by a 30-minute briefing about how very, very important hearing protection is, followed by getting issued earplugs. Our earplugs were considered an inspectable item - but if you for some reason didn’t have them at the range you wouldn’t get smoked _too_ badly, because they wanted you to own up to it and get a pair of disposable ones, rather than trying to go without. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoring-in-the-military/597079/28 "2011-09-25T01:44:58Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > Holy crap, when was this? I find that incredibly - we had a hearing test in reception, followed by a 30-minute briefing about how very, very important hearing protection is, followed by getting issued earplugs. Our earplugs were considered an inspectable item - but if you for some reason didn’t have them at the range you wouldn’t get smoked _too_ badly, because they wanted you to own up to it and get a pair of disposable ones, rather than trying to go without. 1. Like I said though, at the time, we only got an afternoon of live range time. The rest of the time, we carried around blue-painted practice rifles (which we called “Smurf Killers”). You could strip them, reassemble them, charge them, release the bolt, etc. They just didn’t have firing mechanisms. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoring-in-the-military/597079.md?page=1)