We were strongly advised to sleep with the rifle actually in the sleeping bag.

In the infantry, we always slept with our rifles. The last thing you wanted if someone hit you while sleeping was to have to search for your weapon. We slept fully dressed, too. After a few days in the field, you notice how badly your shelter-half mate stinked. After a few more days, you couldn't smell anything because you yourself stank so bad. It was like a force-field of funk surrounding you. Too bad it wasn't powerful enough to fry the mosquitoes.