Basic, High-Tech, maybe Low-Tech: different tents / tent types

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by Crakkerjakk

I sharpened the edge of mine to the point where I could thunk it into a tree and it'd stay there. Most jarheads found that a little weird.

Where I come from, that's normal for an infantryman - they also make a decent melee weapon, especially given the tendency of the bayonet (and other bits) on the L85 to come off more or less at random.

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Hmm. I imagined that such an option is very, very situational: it takes time and effort to dig a trench large enough for a person. Let's say 2 ft × 6 ft × 1 ft, a very minimalistic deepness in the ground, will take half an hour in loose soil, an hour in ordinary, and can't meaningfully be done without a pick or an improvised equivalent in hard soil. It also might have the problem of getting flooded if there's a rain. How are these issues solved?

You deal with flooding by putting a sump at one or both ends (also a good place to kick foreign objects landing in the trench), which will at least head off some of the groundwater. Prolonged saturation involves giving up and moving above ground. Digging is part of life in the infantry in particular (hence "The Army dig in, the Airforce check in and the Navy take their accomodation with them") ... and you generally get shown a film quite early on which explains to you why its' better to be below ground level when artillery fire arrives.