Re:Burnout (Score 1)

First of all, let me pay my respects to a fellow Special Forces soldier. I too have experienced the effects of extended sleep deprivation first-hand ( not to mention the added effects of a poor diet over that same period of time ). I served in the French Foreign Legion from 1980-1985, spending 3 of those years in the Legion's Airborne Regiment ( 2eme Regiment Etranger de Parachutistes ). During my time as a Para, I participated in a military intervention in Tchad, Africa in 1984, code named Operation Manta Echo. We had been sent in to prop up the French backed government, against incursions from Libyan and rebel troops in the North, and for several months carried out almost continuous desert patrols along a buffer zone separating Northern and Southern Tchad. On one such mission we were told that we would be in the field for 5 days only. This original time frame kept getting extended, until we eventually had spent 21 days in the desert, with supplies being airlifted to us. As the only morse radio operator with the section, it was my job to contact our HQ, in Biltine, Tchad, every 2 hours, 24 hours a day. This of course meant that the most I could ever sleep at any one time at night was a little less than 2 hours. There were also many instances where it would be difficult to send or receive a message, due to atmospheric conditions, ie: sandstorms ( I once had to relay a message through the 2eme R.E.P.'s base at Calvi, Corsica, back to another area of Chad ). In those cases, because of the length of time it took to successfully transmit or receive a message, even the little sleep that I could have enjoyed was sacrificed for the sake of the operation. Add to that the fact that we were surviving on French military rations, which at that time consisted of: a can of sardines or mackerel, a can of beef, a can of cheese, some sort of hardtack, a couple of candies, a package of cigarettes, a miniature bottle of "eau de vie", and some toilet paper. Try eating a can of beef or cheese in the middle of the Sahara desert, when the temperature is around +35C - +40C, and because of the extreme heat the contents have liquified into a rather unappealing gelatinus soup. Yummy! We did take advantage of local food sources when available, such as gazelle, or a variety of wild ducks and geese ( which was probably the only thing that really kept us going ), but these were few and far between. Shortage of water was another issue, and quite often we were forced to get by on as little as 2 litres of water per day ( as well as salt tablets ). Not anywhere near enough to replenish the fluid lost in those exreme temperatures. Anyway to make a long story short, I concur completely with my Army Ranger brother-in-arms, in stating that after the end of 21 days under these circumstances, I was pretty much a basket case - weak, under-nourished, exhausted, stressed, irritable, even hallucinating at times. Somehow I was able to carry out my tasks, but my efficiency and awareness were greatly hampered by the combination of sleep deprivation and lack of a proper diet. The human body is a high-maintenance machine, and even with the aid of drugs, suppliments, etc., there is only a certain, very limited amount of time that a person can function "effectively" without the essentials of proper rest and nutrition. The only thing that kept me going near the end was a certain mental toughness developed through a harsh training regimen, and the overriding desire not to compromise the health and safety of those who were depending on me to complete my duty as a radio operator. For all you kids out there, don't try this at home!