This idea is rather absurd unless:
1. They include a deathmatch mode.
2. They make the maps incredibly small.
3. The time limit is 5 minutes or less.
To be quite frank, it'll no longer be RO in any manner.
but this wont work on many maps.
On a side note: What makes some ppl here think, every round would take like 30 mins?
We've all had situations where both teams ran out of reinforcements. In my experience once this happens one side usually wins in about 10 minutes.
Armed Assault has 100 player servers, and also a one life gametype. After you die, you can wait anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes sometimes for a map to end and the next round to start. It's one of the biggest complaints and sources of frustration for that game. I like the way Red Orchestra does it with reinforcements. I know I for one would rather spend more time playing that waiting.
The best way to make a person 'fear death' is thru reward, not punishment, IMO. Having only one life cause many fundamental errors, many of which have been mentioned in prior posts.
I my opinion, there needs to be a ranking system in RO similiar to the one in America's Army. If you live, take objectives, kill enemies, etc, you are rewarded with honor points. If you die, constantly suicide satchel tanks, you lose honor points (or atleast do not gain any).
Honor points, in the most basic function, would only serve as bragging rights, but if wanted to develop it deeper, certain classes many only be accessed with a certain amount of honor points. I.E., low honor players can not be squad leaders, etc.
America's Army has implemented something like this in that you must complete certain training and have a certain amount of honor points to access Special Forces classes.
The casual gamer that does not care about ranking will not be affected by this, but considering RO relatively small but hardcore player base, an honor system would be something to consider implementing into the game instead of a 'one life' feature.
With RO being more "true" to the WW2 style of combat operations on the Eastern front I can only see this suggestion detracting from the teamwork. Many maps reflect the real life situation faced by Eastern Front armies, that advances had to be made, with no regard for the human cost. In RO, to win objectives sometimes, it requires teamwork in the form of getting a lot of bodies in the capzone, and dying over and over trying while it caps. Dying repeatedly sometimes is the one thing that can get your team into the winning position and is necessary.
I think if you reward people too much for staying alive (outside of the current team based re-inforcement system), you would end up causing people to hunker down and try to stay alive rather than pushing hard at the objectives. In RO, the soldier you play represents many reinforcements, not the same "individual" over and over.
The end result is that a lot of players would think only of themselves and their "honour" points, rather than the team goal that places value on objectives, not their life. This is achieved in RO by the abilty to respawn, and balanced by having a set number of re-inforcements that requires teamwork to conserve.