Cumulative impact of low calorie intake and sleep deficit in combat

[IntelTrooper]

Agreed, but is 4 or 5 hours "deprivation?" The Army only owes each Soldier 4 hours. At least that is what I was taught. And is his diet "unhealthy?" It looked like he was eating some pretty good food when I saw him chowing down on CBS. It was one meal, but I didn't hear a calorie count or any mention of inadequate nutritional value.

I think what Army leaders need to remember is that everyone's body has different sleep and nutritional requirements. GEN McChrystal may only require 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night. I know lots of people who only sleep that much on a regular basis and suffer no ill effects. Personally, I need 8.5 hours of sleep per night in order to not feel like garbage all day. 4 to 5 hours would make me an angry zombie.

Once, we were up for nearly 48 hours due to a little situation we got into. Around hour 44, I decided I had figured out a solution, walked up to my team leader, and proceded to explain my brilliant plan. What came out of my mouth was a bunch of nonsense, as I gathered from the way his face contorted in a mixture of confusion and anger, so rather than try to explain, I just walked away.

While many in the military would be relatively unaffected by a stretch of two or three days without sleep, I am definitely not one of them.