Letter of the day (April 19): Night shift

Once in a while, I dozed off while on radar watch duty onboard U.S. Navy ships that I served on ("An air traffic controller was asleep again," April 15).

It usually happened on midwatches -- 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. I'd watch the radar screen and see the sweep go around and around, and the blips would glow brightly. It was almost hypnotic.

Problem is, the radar room is dark. Naval commanders had a ready solution for drowsiness.

On some ships, a sailor stands a radar watch for only two hours at a time. And if duty and vigilance were to fail, the watch supervisor would notice right away and tap the sailor on the shoulder or calmly address him loud enough to jolt him awake.

I never conked out for more than a few moments. And if I did, it was a slow watch, without many radar contacts on the scope. Being a surface search radar operator means tracking ships moving at no more than 20 to 30 knots.

They were usually detected 15 to 20 miles away, and their course, speed and closest point of approach had already been calculated by others in the crew.

Air intercept controllers, on the other hand, were not permitted such lapses of alertness, I'm sure. The key element in being alert is team support.

Believe me, one tap on the shoulder was all it really took. The safety of our ship and crew was of paramount importance.

DAVID KLEPPE, PLYMOUTH