What Soldiers In The Infantry Go Through To Earn Their Title

I would we learned how to be stoic in the face of misery.

I remember the first time I heard the expression, "Embrace the suck."
As an Infantryman (at the time), it resonated.

Miserable? Yea, occasionally. It wasn't very motivating to hear the Bn mascot (English Bulldog) was to be brought inside because it was too cold for him to be left out, while you're monitoring the radio in the field with no shelter, but it was also uplifting to know you could do it with a little discomfort and a lot of pride.
I kept my shaving gear in an M-60 ammo bag, and would hang it out to be ready for hygiene the next morning. That particular night there was no rain or other precipitation, but the cloth strap froze solid. The Plt Leader just happened to snap this pic at the perfect time, showing the freeze. I was wearing a field jacket liner under my shirt, so I wasn't ignoring the cold like it looks. It did make some of my men think I was so badass I didn't need a field jacket while they were wearing theirs. :D

But the most miserable time I can recall was a week in Belgium, October '76 Reforger. It wasn't raining, and it wasn't freezing, BUT.... humidity so high you could see the mist hanging in the air, penetrating everything. Nothing we had to wear was dry, everything was moist, but not wet. Changing clothes went from a warm damp to a cold damp. Oh the temps... day or night, it was within 10 degrees difference. 34-maybe 40 degrees F. Not enough to freeze anything, but just enough it kept you shivering, fatiguing you to the point you just wanted to be warm and dry. No fires, no warm up tents, just whatever you could do to warm yourself up. We were certainly a bunch of miserable soldiers during that time.