Not the whole time. There were times both teams fell quiet for hours. [ And that's about it. Once communications failed, he found himself unable to relax enough to sneak any sleep at all. ] I've definitely worked under more irritating conditions, it wasn't the most trying experience.

[ Though he could still use some real sleep. ] I think if the lot of you go out again, I can tolerate having someone else split shifts with it. I needed to understand the full operation without distraction.