the 12 day rule.

[Mortblanc]

the rule of three I heard espoused by the late Ron Hood actually being;

3 seconds without cover in a firefight
3 minutes without air
3 days without water
3 weeks without food
3 months without human contact?

The 3 weeks without food is anticipating ZERO food and normal weight.

According to the records kept by physicians during the Warsaw Getto starvation the result was that if a human could get 500 calories per day, starting at normal weight, the average person would last 6 months. An overweight person can add 5 days per each pound above normal body weight.

The average American would not even be down to "below normal" on the height weight chart in 3 weeks!

As for the need for 6 hours sleep per 24; anyone that believes that was never a combat infantryman. I have gone for weeks at a time on two or three hours per night and made life or death decisions the whole event.

I do agree that the water will be the key in a mass disaster. 12 days is about right fore big time shutdown of large numbers of people due to warter borne illness. Many types do not strike for several days and do not debilitate for a couple more.