I did that for two single days in wrestling. And I told myself that I would never do it again and thankfully I didn't.
In Army Basic, they FORCE you to drink water, or at least they did when I went through in 1998.
Wrestling coaches are realizing that the kids won't drink water if they aren't told too. All the kids will focus on is what the scale says.
I never went more than an hour in Iraq without water or kool aid or gatorade.
I can see death by dehydration very easy in an environment like Iraq. If I was a soldier there, I'd be concerned about available water and things like gatorade than food.