Posted on 08/15/2005 2:05:08 PM PDT by steel_resolve
Sterile is not the same as non-toxic.
Back when I was in the reserves we had this butter bar who was a total jerk. We were on manuevers in Camp Bullis outside of San Antonio when he dropped from the heat. The SGT had us pee on him to cool him down. It suggests that in the manual, no joke. Besides it was good for moral.
What is toxic about urine? Remember urine is highly filtered excess not waste.
We had a sgt that was an alky and one time he was so far gone he mistakenly picked up a beer can someone p*ssed in as a joke.
After almost drinkuing all of it he got on one of the guys to get some fresh beer that the hot sun must skunked the case he was working on.
Eventually he evacced out, packed in ice.
The combusted water is exhaled.
Most of the stuff that's found in urine is stuff that used to be going through the bloodstream. Although urine does contain toxins, in higher concentrations than exist in the bloodstream, they are harmless within certain limits (if injested they'll just be excreted again). There are limits to how long the cycle can go, since each time the water goes through the body the levels of toxins will increase.
My understanding is that, in a typical person, reusing water once is pretty harmless. Twice is not good, but not too bad. Three or more times and there start being severe problems.
Still, unless absolutely necessary, I'd just as soon use the urine to cool the motar tube, or, if we still used them, the liquid cooled machine gun.
But of course this thread started with a discussion of a filter system to take out most of those toxins, and hopefully most of the taste as well. With that I have no problem.
Brilliant idea!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.