The Desert Heat

By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross

Today temperatures will be as high as 111 degrees in Camp Liberty, where I'm embedded. Even walking under the scorching sun can be tiring, and the desert heat will play tricks with your mind. At one point yesterday I forgot the name of a lieutenant I was supposed to meet with -- something that would normally leap immediately to mind. Another time I got turned around and it took an unusually long time to regain my sense of direction. These were small mistakes made in a safe place. In a more dangerous context -- on a patrol, in the middle of an insurgent attack -- small mistakes spurred on by the desert heat can have far more serious consequences.

The temperatures will be far higher in the coming months, easily reaching 130 or 140 degrees. This kind of heat allows virtually no time for the body to recover, as it takes a constant physical toll. It's necessary to drink water constantly throughout the day (one quart per hour is recommended) because dehydration can sneak up on you. Add to that the soldiers' typical work schedules. Many of the men I've spoken with typically work 12 to 14 hours a day. I had dinner last night with some convoy drivers and mechanics working out of the forward operating base at Camp Abu Naji. One of them told me that he likes it when he's able to get away from Abu Naji because "I'm usually able to get five or six hours of sleep when I'm on the road." To him, that's a luxury. When I asked, he said that he usually sleeps about three hours a night -- although allowed that he has insomnia, and could probably sleep four or five hours a night otherwise. Added to the desert heat and punishing workdays is the lack of days off. The convoy driver said he's been working for 90+ straight days.

But the drivers and mechanics claimed that the biggest stress they face is not the working time and heat, but rather the bureaucratic rules they face. Some of these rules were mundane -- they were dismayed, for example, at the restrictions on where they can smoke. ("They won’t let you walk and chew gum at the same time," the driver joked. "Heck, the other day I was telling the boys that they won't even let you walk and move your legs at the same time.") Some of the rules they complained about were more serious: they believed, for example, that the extensive rules of engagement put them in greater danger.

There are other tolls associated with being in Iraq. There is the time away from home, which is hard on a soldier, and hard on the soldier's family. And of course there is the physical danger. The convoy whose drivers I spoke with was recently hit by an IED, but fortunately nobody was hurt in the attack. The drivers said that what really worries them is the EFP -- explosively formed projectile, which has been described as uniquely dangerous because "when it detonates, the concave end blows outward and melts into a bullet-shaped fragment that slices through armor and flesh." (Iran is known to have provided EFPs to insurgent factions.) Disturbingly, they have grown so used to small arms fire that they claim it doesn't even faze them anymore. RPGs are another matter entirely.

The toll that our soldiers face on the battlefield raises an obvious question: is this war breaking our military? A future post will broach that topic. For now, my purpose is not to get into policy issues. Rather, I write this blog entry to highlight the extraordinary sacrifices our soldiers are making. Seeing it first-hand makes it all the more impressive.

Thanks to Public Multimedia Inc. for its assistance in organizing my embedded reporting from Iraq. You can support my embed and independent reporting through donations to the Counterterrorism Foundation.

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