Does SGC operate 24/7??

[Dave2]

Did the SGC and the Gateroom operate 24/7? Or on a Monday through Friday, 9-5 schedule?
I presume they had to have a night shift and a night command structure in case of incoming signals, or the need to use the gate in the middle of the night or weekends.
Occasionally we see people other than Walter at the controls, so I presume that does happen, but do the SG teams and General Hammond have to be available 24/7??
The sheer stress level and adrenaline flow must force even the greatest of people to need a nice long vacation or even alternating times in service.
Since Teal'c spends most of his time at the Mountain and doesn't spend all his spare time in Kel'norim, he surely would be a good candidate to command the Gate Room during off hours.

[hedwig]

What do you think?

[Dave2]

I don't know......That's why I'm asking........

What do you think?

[Gen. Chris]

I swear we really need a section just for your questions...Lol


Issues arise no matter the time or day. I would imagine that the SGC is staffed all the time mainly due to the fact that an SG team may need to make a quick escape from the planet they are on at night (on Earth) at times.

[Achiles]

They would almost have to have it fully staffed at all times so they would have a lot of people working different shifts and probably on and of times but a lot of the teams would probably be on missions then time of while still being able to be called in when needed.

[jelgate]

I don't know......That's why I'm asking........

Its pretty obvious. Other worlds and especially Goa'uld/Ori attcks are not synched to the time Earth is most active

[Snowman37]

The SGC operates 24/7, but I suspect the night shift would be smaller than the day shift.

[hedwig]

I don't know......That's why I'm asking........

But the answers are just what each person thinks might be the answer. So if you've been watching the series (and I'm pretty sure you have), then you're opinion is just as relevant as anyone else who might supply an answer.

So, if you were to give your opinion in answer to your own question, what would it be?

[Blizzah]

they could use a time dilation device to slow down time for the main characters, so that they could work almost all the time..is that possible? you know, after an 8 hour shift, they could turn the device on sleep and hang out for 12 hours or so, then head back to the SGC for the next shift and turn the device off.

[morrismike]

Its pretty obvious. Other worlds and especially Goa'uld/Ori attcks are not synched to the time Earth is most active

You mean all the planets aren't in time-synch with Cheyenne Mountain? Who knew?

[blueray]

there an episode with the night staff in the control room and the gate disappeared.

i imagine that they always are staffed because it is different times of day on different planets, and during the atlantis day's they needed to keep someone on the controls if they try to communicate. i imagine that there are people that do third shift, just most aren't.

[Snowman37]

they could use a time dilation device to slow down time for the main characters, so that they could work almost all the time..is that possible? you know, after an 8 hour shift, they could turn the device on sleep and hang out for 12 hours or so, then head back to the SGC for the next shift and turn the device off.

Wouldn't this lead to rapid aging from the world's point of view?

[Quizziard]

Night shift would need to be as large as day shift since, as stated above, incoming attacks/messages are completely asynchronous to Colorado timezones. It might even be three 8-hour shifts, since you also need hand-overs etc. It's the one thing that always amused me: no matter what is happening on the base, it's always Hammond as duty commander and SG-1 are generally on duty or about to go on/off. But then again, any other combination would be the unmade show "Stargate SG-6". Etc.

[Snowman37]

That's largely because we rarely see the SGC at night. When we do, it's as people are heading out for the night or arriving first thing in the morning. However, this does raise a question. Who's in charge when Hammond leaves for the night, sees his family, goes off world, and so on?

[Jedi_Master_Bra'tac]

When the leader's away from the base, it's usually a high-ranking officer left in charge of the Iris opening and stuff (see Univited, Enemy at the Gate). I suspect a similar thing happens at night.


And who says the rest of the universe has doesn't have the same timezone, they speak English after all

[Blizzah]

Wouldn't this lead to rapid aging from the world's point of view?

That's a fair point.

[Flyboy]

The SGC would have three elements of operation.

There most certainly would be a 9-5 Mon-Fri set up in place, which would incorporate the majority of support trades and missions. All the necessary support functions, administration, logistics, finance, LegAd, training, etc would be very much in this catagory. Furthermore, the majority of ROUTINE missions would be conducted during this time. All the non-sexy missions, for want of a better word.

Out of hours, whilst it would be more than a skeleton crew, it would be less. All the essential roles required for homeworld security would be in place, but you'd find that the Operations element would be a little cut down except for in times of imminent crisis. There's be very few missions conducted beyond those which were time dependent (not time sensitive), so where there was a genuine requirement to operate outside of conventional working hours.

Then, finally, you'd of course have the time sensitive matters, which would be ad hoc, and depend on the crisis of the time. SG1, as an example, would of course carry out their specialist tasks at ANY hour, but would, most likely on a normal day carry out 9-5 hours.

[QuantumIguana]

The day shift would be the busiest, that is when activities scheduled by the SGC would take place. They have other SG teams, they would take the night shift. SG1 would be called in if needed, but the other SG teams are capable. Of course there might be events scheduled outside of the day shift, for example, if you have a planet that has a different day/night schedule from Earth (this would happen a lot) who's day do you go with? Diplomatically, if we wanted something from them, we would go on their shift, which would mean SG1 would come in in the middle of the night to go on a mission.

[Lt.Colonel John Sheppard]

didn't they cover something like this in SG-1's Season 8 Episode Endgame?

[SF_and_Coffee]

Oh, for cryin' out loud.



The SGC is a military base, so obviously it isn't closed at night or on the weekends. Furthermore, they're dealing with other planets. Other planets have their own day/night rotational cycles, AND a full range of timezones, just like Earth has. An example or why this is important: If you want to send a team to visit P2A-870, you'll want to send it when the Stargate on P2A-870 is in daylight. If you've been there before and know that the part of P2A-870 where the gate is located has its daytime during what is nighttime in the Mountain timezone of the US, then you'll be sending that team out in the middle of the SGC's night. Oh well, that's just how it has to work. The universe does not automatically sync to Cheyenne Mountain's schedule.

Quantum Iguana understands this, for example, although this part

The day shift would be the busiest, that is when activities scheduled by the SGC would take place.

doesn't quite make sense. The SGC will obviously schedule things whenever they need to. We honestly get very little idea of what time it is on Earth outside the mountain at any given point in most episodes.