Did you 'snuggle up' a little to close to your battle buddy on those cold winter nights?
Seriously…. I would if I could have. Froze my ass off!
But for the exercise, they split my RO and I up. We had to proceed separately to the pick up point. I was met with a ‘partisan’ (instructor) to help me and grade me. (I don’t think... no, I know he was NOT into “snuggling." Besides he had a heavy coat on. Me, a flimsy flight suit, skivvies, and a T-shirt.)
Although it was a mild SoCal time of the year, it got really fricken cold at night but hot in the day. I was dressed in a summer flight suit. The only thing they supplied us that we didn't bring off the boat was a small canteen of water… water that partially froze that night!
I was so cold, I begged to start a fire. But simulated bad guys were after us, so I couldn't. Finally my partisan relented, allowing me to start a fire hidden in a deep crevice between two large boulders where it could not be seen.
So as I tried to sleep (but could not), I fried on one side facing the fire in the crevice and froze on the other. Rolling over just reversed the torture. But all that didn’t last long. The simulated gomers spotted the flame’s reflections in the trees and chased us running off into the night blindly into the chaparral.