Well here is a blog by popular demand. This one should be short and sweet.
I have had several people ask me about the heat in Iraq, the first thing I want to say is that it is ******* HOT!!!! Here's the sad part, its only June 4th. When I got here in March it was around 85 during the day time and down in the 40's and 50's at night. Now as we get closer and closer to the peak months it is already darn near un-bearable. Last week we had a high of 122. I hear that the peak temperature for where I am at will get to be between 135 and 140. Its kinda funny, the other day I had called my wife in Tennessee and she slipped with a little comment "Man its hot here today". So of course I pop right back asking just how hot it was and she states "85". Man I wish the temperature would get that low at night.
I was lucky during my last deployment, I was initially in Mosul. The northern most major city in Iraq. I think during the summer it got up to about 110, and during the winter it had actually snowed. In fact the Iraqi's that I was training up there were all originally from Baghdad and when it snowed, they had went crazy. Many of them had never seen snow in their whole life. Talk about an experience. It was nice land, rolling hills, lots of vegitation. Now this time, hot - hot - and more hot. Nothing but baren flat land.
Now as far as beating the heat, its simple . . .dont go in it. Well obviously that one is hard to do but talk about learning how to drink lots of water. I go through approx 100-130 oz of water on slow days. On days I have to spend time outside I probably drink 150-200. Not to mention that we have to alternate this with gaterade to ensure proper electrolyte balances.
Spend any time with the army and you will learn that the army has one cure all answer for any problems. Drink water. you have a headache - drink water . . .you foot hurts - drink water . .ect ect ect. I think what they are actually preparing you for your whole career is for when you will end up in the desert. So that anytime you have a problem you always remember - DRINK WATER.
Oh and to answer a few questions I have seen, yes we have A/C in the tents and in the offices. It is not great as you could imagine how hard it would be to combat this level of heat but it works.
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