History Main / PrefersRocksToPillows

There are many things a man returning to civilization can look forward to, the warm food, their family being by their side again, air conditioning and centralized heating, not to mention the simple comfort in feeling ''safe''. But there's always one thing that never sits right with them.

Their bed. It's too soft. No good for a man used to sleeping in a hard bunk or hole in the ground. It just doesn't feel ''right''.

* ''Literature/CiaphasCain'', THE HERO OF THE IMPERIUM, finds it hard to sleep in overly cushioned beds (using said beds for [[ReallyGetsAround vigorous exercise]] is a different matter).

* ''Anime/{{Appleseed}}'' has Deunan, rescued by Olympus's ESWAT from a ruined city, finding it difficult to sleep in a bed after so long on the battlefield. She ends up curling up on the floor, with a gun, with [[PillowDummy the bed's pillows arranged]] so if anybody sneaks into her room to try to kill her, they will think she's on the bed.

* ''Anime/{{Appleseed}}'' has Deunan, rescued by Olympus's ESWAT from a ruined city, finding it difficult to sleep in a bed after so long on the battlefield. She ends up curling up on the floor, with a gun, with the bed's pillows arranged so if anybody sneaks into her room to try to kill her, they will think she's on the bed.

* Invoked by Captain Picard from ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' when he finds himself a guest aboard a Klingon cruiser. His quarters are decent though Spartan. It's also pointed out that Klingeons do not sleep on soft pads, rather their beds are essentially a shelf. In a show of bravado, Picard smacks his shelf and replies, "Good! I like a firm bed." His difficulty in napping on that shelf belies that bluster.

* ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' has a story where a woodsman staying in an inn can't get used to the soft bed, and so sleeps on the floor. This saves his life when the innkeeper [[InnOfNoReturn tries to kill him in the night]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfZelda'': In the pilot, Link was talking to himself, reminiscing about the days when he was outside, adventuring, sleeping in mud, and how he actually preferred that over sleeping in a bed.

* ''Literature/CiaphasCain'', THE HERO OF THE IMPERIUM, finds it hard to sleep in overly cushioned beds (using said beds for vigorous exercise is a different matter).

* In ''Webcomic/MyLifeAtWar'' Betsy-Ray gets a chance to sleep in a real bed after months on cots manufactured by the lowest bidder or shaped polymer slabs, and after some tossing and turning ends up throwing some pillows and a blanket [[https://web.archive.org/web/20171120023057/http://www.mylifeatwar.com/?p=1045 on the floor.

* In ''Webcomic/MyLifeAtWar'' Betsy-Ray gets a chance to sleep in a real bed after months on cots manufactured by the lowest bidder or shaped polymer slabs, and after some tossing and turning ends up throwing some pillows and a blanket [[http://www.mylifeatwar.com/?p=1045 on the floor]].

* In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', Captain America bonds with the Falcon, a modern-day war veteran, over how impossible it is to go back to sleep on pillows after spending years sleeping on the ground.

** In Season One Lewis Wilson, a PTSD-afflicted soldier in Curtis Hoyle's PTSD support group, makes clear he is falling apart when he digs a pit in his backyard to sleep in, even when Curtis points out it's freezing in the middle of November and the pit has no drainage for rainwater (Lewis being used to a desert environment). This is enough of a red flag that Curtis warns Billy Russo to not hire Lewis to work for Anvil.
** Amy from the second season is seen to sleep under the bed, due to PTSD from having witnessed the aftermath of the massacre of her surrogate family, when she had to hide under the bed from the killer after he returned to the scene of the crime.

** In Season One Lewis Wilson, a PTSD-afflicted soldier in Curtis Hoyle's PTSD support group, makes clear he is falling apart when he digs a pit in his backyard to sleep in, even when Curtis points out it's freezing in the middle of November. This is enough of a red flag that Curtis warns Billy Russo to not hire Lewis to work for Anvil.

* ''Series/ThePunisher2017'': Lewis Wilson, a PTSD-afflicted soldier in Curtis Hoyle's PTSD support group, makes clear he is falling apart when he digs a pit in his backyard to sleep in, even when Curtis points out it's freezing in the middle of November. This is enough of a red flag that Curtis warns Billy Russo to not hire Lewis to work for Anvil.
** Amy from the second series is also seen to sleep under the bed, though in her case it is more like searching a haven to protect her from the fear from the past as well as recent events.