well, i have heard of the army killing kids due to lack of electrolytes in basic. do they give him salt pills?

i am glad you chimed in.

when i talk of dehydration(and drought - dehydration of a certain area or organ of the body), i am talking about at the cellular level.

clear urine indicates dehydration in two ways. one, it means that water is not getting in and out of the cells, like you said due to lack of electrolytes(salt). also, diuretic drinks such as coffee and soda and beer, etc, also produce clear urine as they dehydrate the body. both scenarios mean the water is running right through the system and not going in and out of the cells to remove the debris of metabolism.

also in agreement, overly dark urine indicates dehydration process due to simple lack of water.

these are basic rules of thumb, of course. my point is to discredit the notion that drinking lots of water and having clear urine is a sign that everything is fine. that does not have to be the case at all.

years ago, in more generally lucid times when i was in high school, we had a gallon size dispenser on the wall of the locker room off the gym. in it were these large yellow tablets of salt and sulfur. we were instructed to take those salt tablets every time we ran hard or went out in the heat. i never saw a person pass out or otherwise become distressed in my entire high school career from such activites.

as for the person whose son is in the army, well, you learn very quickly that there is the right way, the wrong way and the army way. you can guess which one he better subscribe to, at least outwardly. then again, what our sweet old uncle dont know wont hurt us. lol the vaccinations alone should be enough to horrify any sons mother. i also hear that any Iodine detected is prima face evidence of trying to hide a hot UA and is an automatic fail. its tough being a soldier these days.