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by PuffinBlue 3985 days ago
I had sort of an 'opposite' experience following 86 hours of no sleep and lots of physical labour.

Military training, 3 1/2 days of digging ad building trenches by hand. Middle of high summer and digging through stony clay.

Interspersed between the digging were numerous patrols and mental tests.

I experienced the hallucinations whilst fully awake from about hour 76 particularly throughout the night and early morning. I vividly remember stopping so talk to a Colour Sergeant I knew and shook his hand, only to find it extremely prickly. Trying again the pain brought me to my senses and I realised I was shaking hands with a Holy bush.

During a dawn attack the following morning I frequently fell into micro-sleeps whilst 'standing to', resulting in bashed knees and a couple of trips to the bottom of the trench flat on my face.

Come an enforced rest period at hour 86 I lay down and experienced the kind of unconsciousness I've only experienced under an anaesthetic. I was utterly gone.

3 hours later I felt amazingly refreshed, just as well as there were 48 more hours to go without sleep until the exercise finished.

1 comments

What possible benefit was there to be ordered to work without sleep for 86 hours?

Was this in a possible combat situation? Or a test of your mettle? I hope? :P

It's common in the military to train for extreme scenarios, because sooner or later you might encounter them in reality (i.e. war) where you are forced to do it whether you have trained for it or not.