sleep deprivation?

SERE stands for Survive, Escape, Resist Evade, I believe (I never went throught the school, only heard about it.)

Common things that people like Drill Instructors and the guys in MOUT/BUST school do is keep you running drills, yelling, shaking, physical conditioning training, etc, etc. Basically keeping your body in motion when it wants to shut down. This has good and bad effects.

On the good side, it does increase your mental endurance, much like any kind of conditioning does. It allows you to identify your fatigue level and power through it to complete the objective. Pushing your fatigue levels allow you to maintain an acceptable level of function, in some cases even subconsciously (kinda like sleepwalking or 'zoning out')

On the bad side, sleep is needed in order for your body and mind to repair itself. Futzing with your sleep cycle can cause all manner of problems ranging from osetoarthritis and muscle atrophy to full on psychosis. Without sleep, your brain can't 'defrag' all the information its taken in during its time awake, and you end up forgetting things that may be important, whether in a military or competitve setting. Also, without sleep, your mind can't regulate your body temperature, blood glucose, and other hormones that help to keep your body clean and healthy.

Now in a military setting, the benefits outweight the risks-for instance, if I stay awake for 24 hours and make sure that no one driving a truck full of explosives blows up my unit, then i guess im staying awake for 24 hours. In a competitive setting like MMA, i dont think it will do any good. Ever have one of 'those' days, where your keep getting caught in basic stuff and it just seems like you're dragging ass left right and center? your MMA instructor puts you through a cardio workout that you should be able to handle, but you're sucking wind? That's what happens when you're body is out of regulation. My advice: Sleep well and comfortably, at least 7 hours every night if possible. You'll find that your body is tougher, your mind sharper, and your game more solid than doing some kind of sleep deprivation training.

I feel that sleep deprivation would lead to physical breakdown of some sort. Maybe even make you weaker by putting your body on overload. Sleep is very important. Sleep is when your body recovers.

I don't want you to spill the beans, but I just meant that when you felt like you were nodding off, did they just get in your face, or did they knock you on your ass?

Was there a special unit for which you were training?

My last unit was 10th Special Forces Group (A) out of Ft. Carson, CO. A good friend of mine just graduated SERE a couple of months ago, too out of Ft. Bragg, NC.

I wouldn't say there are any special skills but determination of making it through. Like PTbeast said, even for SF SERE, there are many similarities with the checks and sounds that are being made to keep you up.

Your mind plays tricks on you, and time will seem a lot longer then it is at times or through even more serious levels of sleep deprivation you can see stuff that isn't really there.

I see no edge this would give you for martial arts training, because why in the hell would you need to stay awake for days, to a week+ at the time for training or competition?

My advice is to sleep 7-9 hours a night, drink plenty of water, and just be healthy.
Osu!