It's certain you've never been on the board.
It is severe. Number 3 and 4 of your statement are also incorrect.
Even the CIA has admitted it causes permanent, physiological changes to the brain (from unclassified sources).
SERE West is the only place it's still employed if it hasn't been stopped there by now, too.
Air Force and Army SERE didn't ever employ it according to official docs, but if there's somebody on this forum from one of those services who has been boarded we'd sure like to hear from them.
no i haven't but i take it you have, a guy i work with was a Navy Corpsman CWO4(at retirement and one of the first in the Navy to go through their PA program) and was at the SERE school during times it was done we talked at great length about this at the time and he says it's "Unpleasant and uncomfortable but not torture." i take him at his word
3 what threat of imminent death is there, dead men don't talk, and 4 who else is being threatened if they don't cooperate?