"The Long Watch" is a science fiction short story by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. It is about a military officer who faces a coup d'état by a would-be dictator.
Originally titled "Rebellion on the Moon", the story originally appeared in an edited version in the December 1949 American Legion Magazine.[1] It also featured in April 1955 Nebula Science Fiction Number 12, illustrated by John J. Greengrass. It appears in Heinlein's short story collections The Green Hills of Earth and The Past Through Tomorrow. While it is included in collections of Future History stories and appears on Heinlein's timeline chart,[2] "The Long Watch" does not appear to share continuity with the history,[citation needed] but with Space Cadet published a year earlier.