Like yourself I've had some experience with SAR and I include the Rule of 3's in a summary article that I wrote regarding wilderness survival. I also agree that it would be pretty difficult for someone to die from dehydratioin in just a few hours. I lived in Phoenix in the late 70's and was on a desert SAR team. It seemed like we spent a lot of time looking for people who had gotten lost on the Yuma bombing range while searching for brass shell casings. We usually didn't even get notified to start looking for them until they had been overdue for at least a day and it took a while to mobilize and get down there. So when we were lucky enough to find them they were on the verge of death, with no pulse, after a couple of days in the desert without water. Even in that extreme environment they didn't die after just a few hours without water.
KC
Wind in my hair, Sun on my face, I gazed at the wide open spaces, And I was at home.
