How true. Guard duty is the same for any soldier, past or present. LOL There is an old Civil War song called "Pvt. McGuire", based on the experiences of a young Irish immigrant on picket duty and it goes:

"Och, and it's nate to be Captain or Colonel,
Divil a bit, would I want to be higher;
But to rust as a private, I think's an infernal
Predicament surely," says Private McGuire.

"They can go sparkin' and playin' at billiards,
With money to spend for their slightest desire,
Loafin' and atin', and dhrinkin' at Ballard's
While we're on the picket," says Private McGuire.

"Livin' in clover they think it's a thrifle
To stand out all night in the rain and the mire,
And a Yankee hard by with a villainous rifle
Just ready to pop ye," says Private McGuire.

There are several other verses, but this gives an insight as to the mental state of the troop on guard duty, no matter what the time or place.

I read once where a young civil war soldier was very skittish, and was known to his friends to be terribly afraid of "hants" or ghosts as it were. Unbeknownst to the young troop his friends had unloaded his rifle before he went on picket and in the middle of the night one soldier turned his coat inside out to display the white liner in the moonlight and pretended to be a ghost to scare the poor boy. However the plan backfired when the lad kept his cool and after an initial misfire, cooly loaded his weapon, and opened fire on the astonished "ghost" LOL The ghost escaped harm, and rushed back to camp where the young soldier on guard had quite a tale to tell of his adventure in the night, much to the chagrin of his now chastised comrades. LOL