Tradoc 350 6: Fill & Download for Free

Former drill sergeant here.Your treatment in basic training is governed by a regulation called tradoc regulation 350–6. This regulation covers requirements for sleep. This is what it says.TR 350–6, para 3–18(a):“a. Sleep is biological necessity for proper brain and body functioning and a critical element for Trainee/Soldier/DS performance. It is not a luxury. Soldiers need a minimum of 7 hours of high quality sleep to sustain operational readiness.”A drill sergeant can get into a lot of trouble for messing with that, up to and including losing their hat. Can it be done? Sure.When I was on CQ I’d have to pull a trainee or a bay or a platoon or the whole company outside to address issues. When I did, I addressed the issue and sent them back inside. I’d get the commander involved via a text message to let him know what I was doing.I can count on one hand how many times I did this over 3 years. Your sleep in BCT is more protected than it’ll ever be in your career, and dare I say your lives.

Former drill sergeant here.TRADOC Regulation 350–6 says we are allowed to touch trainees for reasons with legitimate training value or to address and immediate safety hazard.What does that mean? That means I can make a uniform correction. I should make the attempt to notify you first and preferably ask permission but that is in a perfect world.As a drill sergeant in this situation I would use my drill sergeant voice and say “You are tore up for this reason. I'm going to touch you to fix you, yes?” Then I'll make the adjustment and move on.The other reason is for safety purposes. If a Soldier gets weak kneed in hit weather I'm snatching them up by the arms and escorting them to a seat to fix the situation. I've had trainees about to fall on ice and I'll grab them by the arm. I had a trainee slip off the pull-up bar and I had to catch them. Etcetera. I don't ask permission here because it isn't practical. Here I could explain why I touched them pretty readily without any pushback.We used to have a training event where during Urban Ops we would go hand to hand with the trainees. That went away in 2019. It had legitimate training value.Otherwise, no drill sergeant should lay a hand on you, never mind hit you.

Both of those assumptions are factually incorrect.Tradoc regulation 350 - 6 requires that trainees receive 7 hours of sleep every single night. No drill sergeant who gives a damn about their career will defy that. Situations do sometimes come up where that does not happen, but that is very rare. In three years I can count on one hand how many times I have been responsible for such a situation.Hell, on most days they get between 8 and 10 hours of sleep. The standard time for lights out here at Fort Leonard Wood is 2100. Wake up usually ranges between 0500 and 0630. Even waking up at 5 they still have received eight hours of sleep.As for food, they're definitely not starved. They will get three square meals a day. They will get at least 15 minutes of actual sit down eating time per meal. That is also very protected by tradoc regulation 350–6.The Army is very big on nutrition and fueling trainees as athletes. That means that they will get real meals, complete with an all-you-can-eat salad bar, and sports drinks.