Hot bunking is a common practice in the military where multiple soldiers share the same bed. It is suggested for use in minimum security prisons and has led to other means of sharing limited resources, such as hot desking and hot bunking a car. Concerns about discrimination have been raised, but the practice is often based on optimal resource use.
Hot bunkering is a common practice especially in naval and submarine armed forces where multiple soldiers share the same bed. The bed is still warm from the previous user, hence the term warm bunk. When sleeping accommodations are limited, as they are especially on submarines, and when round-the-clock staffing is required, soldiers work and sleep in shifts. This could mean up to three people sharing the same berth on a submarine.
Due to overcrowding in many US prisons, there have been some suggestions that it might make sense for inmates to also work and sleep in shifts. This type of arrangement would provide more space for the bed, but could be difficult from a safety standpoint. An important aspect of prisoner surveillance is the reliable nature of their schedules. In many prisons, people may spend most of their time in cells. It is suggested that the hot bunker could be best used in minimum security prisons where inmates actually do eight hours of work day or night.
The idea of sharing sleeping space led to other means where people could also share limited resources. The term hot desking was coined to refer to multiple shift workers sharing the same central desk at different times of the day. Because they don’t work the same shifts, otherwise the desk wouldn’t be busy. From a space saving point of view, hot desking is a cheap and now more popular practice in the business world.
Another idea related to hot bunking is the idea of people in companies sharing cars or the idea of multiple people owning a shared car. This is still called hot bunking a car, although as it becomes more common, it may soon lead to a different term. Again the goal is to pool resources, save space and money.
Not everyone is a fan of this practice, and it has sometimes been used in the military in a discriminatory way. Concerns especially in the US military about women and men using the same dormitories, or even more, concern about homosexuals in the US military has led to allegations that hot bunks are occasionally used to prevent certain people from serve the same shift and sleep at the same time.
Often the practice is not based on discrimination but simply on the optimal use of resources. It can give you pause to think about what it might be like to never be able to sleep in a freshly made bed. Yet it is only one of many sacrifices that people in active service must make to do their jobs under difficult circumstances.
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