Professor Tim Noakes continues his series on the “Science of Hydration” with a review of Dr. Roger W. Hubbard’s conception of “water as a tactical weapon,” developed while he worked for the United States Army Research Institute for Environmental Medicine in the 1980s. This notion of mandated water consumption as a strategy for gaining advantage on the battlefield was adopted by the U.S. military in 1988 and became the first known example of the instruction to drink “ahead of thirst” — advice that would be picked up and marketed by the American College of Sports Medicine and Gatorade Sports Science Institute to deadly effect in the years to come.