Comments on Kaboom: A Soldier's War Journal: Triple Digits

A desert child. Perhaps the best paragraph in the...

2008-05-27T09:15:00.000-07:00

A desert child. Perhaps the best paragraph in the whole blog.

Yikes! Wonderful description of heat. I lived in...

2008-05-25T09:22:00.000-07:00

Yikes! Wonderful description of heat. I lived in the desert for a few years. Moved to a milder climate two years ago, and now there's a cold spot in the middle of me that never really warms up unless it's well over 90.

In my desert life, I once moved into a new home the very week highs hit 125--couldn't get the U-haul closer than about 100 feet from the door (and down a few steps). So, you have have my sympathies. But I have no idea how you do it with 70 pounds of gear.

You must be Supermen! Nah, I know it's those magic portable air conditioners you all wear. ;)

Congratulations on 100,000 hits!! I am going to th...

2008-05-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

Congratulations on 100,000 hits!! I am going to throw a blog reading party tonight and reread everything you've written. Here's to 100,000 more hits!

Be safe. I am thinking of you.

I love you!
CityGirl

"Baroque birdman badness, even. In blue bursts lik...

2008-05-21T19:03:00.000-07:00

"Baroque birdman badness, even. In blue bursts like banana-bombs, brimming beyond Baghdad burning."

Best use of alliteration I've seen in quite some time!

ugh! It hit 103 here yesterday and I had a sad ass...

2008-05-21T15:17:00.000-07:00

ugh! It hit 103 here yesterday and I had a sad ass run as a result. I don't know how you guys do PT in that heat. Remember to replenish your salts as well (you can drink too much water and get sick). I agree with bigd...you need to eat more! Take care!

The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blo...

2008-05-21T13:06:00.000-07:00

The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 05/21/2008 News and Personal dispatches from the front lines.

Your description of the heat gives the term 'the s...

2008-05-21T11:42:00.000-07:00

Your description of the heat gives the term 'the suck' a whole new meaning. We'll all be back on the beaches on Hawaii someday, hopefully sooner than later!

Bless you all.When you sweat so hard it feels like...

2008-05-21T08:46:00.000-07:00

Bless you all.

When you sweat so hard it feels like you are crying it is well and truly hot.

I cannot imagine working in 125F ambient inside a river valley, and I speak as one who was medevaced to Cubi Point NAS, Philippines, with an internal of 105.3 and lived to tell about it. And nobody was shooting at us at all.

Just damn.

Still here, old son. Coming to you from the Deep ...

2008-05-21T08:29:00.000-07:00

Still here, old son. Coming to you from the Deep South, where we are generally unimpressed with stories of heat from other regions. One exception: In "Roughing It," Mark Twain tells about an Army fort somewhere in the vicinity of Death Valley, where it is hideously hot. A Sergeant who has been stationed at the fort for 20 years dies, and since he is a Sergeant, ends up in Hell. After a week or two, he sends back for blankets!

I can't remember it getting that hot in Vietnam. I...

2008-05-21T08:23:00.000-07:00

I can't remember it getting that hot in Vietnam. It was just damn hot and humid besides so things rot faster. We always told ourselves that we'd be able to stand it a lot better if it were dry heat. I think that once it gets to a certain point, it really doesn't matter anymore whether it's dry or humid. Hot is hot no matter how you slice it.

Still think you're related to Kerouac. You sure he wasn't some long lost uncle? I think he cruised thru the deserts in the southwest at one time or other.

Stay safe and bring the Gravediggers home!

I loved this "very elaborate, very obnoxious, and ...

2008-05-21T06:17:00.000-07:00

I loved this "very elaborate, very obnoxious, and very imagery-laced, vocabulacious" entry. Yeah for "wordgasms"!

Hey boss if you'll take the mayor of Detroit as a ...

2008-05-21T01:27:00.000-07:00

Hey boss if you'll take the mayor of Detroit as a part of the deal, I'll trade you some Michigan too cold for some Iraq too hot.

Peace

Cheer up - it's better than 30 below at the Chosin...

2008-05-20T23:36:00.000-07:00

Cheer up - it's better than 30 below at the Chosin Reservoir with no cold weather gear. We lost more guys to frostbite than we did to ChiCom burp guns. A few guys froze to death.

Even if you're writing for yourself, thanks for sh...

2008-05-20T21:03:00.000-07:00

Even if you're writing for yourself, thanks for sharing with the rest of us. I'm going to be as unoriginal with my comments as I was last time and quote someone else:

We are no other than a moving row
Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go
Round with the Sun-illumined Lantern held
In Midnight by the Master of the Show
(Omar Khayyam, "Rubaiyat")

If you haven't read it and you like to read, it's worth checking out.

Stay cool. Stay safe. Keep writing, please.

2008-05-20T20:22:00.000-07:00

Stay cool. Stay safe. Keep writing, please.

Another reason you and the GD's have our admiratio...

2008-05-20T16:51:00.000-07:00

Another reason you and the GD's have our admiration, respect and thanks. Stay hydrated, stay safe.
Cathy B

I couldn't do it either. We've been up over 100 fo...

2008-05-20T12:32:00.000-07:00

I couldn't do it either. We've been up over 100 for the past 4 days and I go from air to air to air. Here in the Central Valley of CA we spend most of the summer in the 90's and 100's but not over 110 as a rule.

please take care of yourself. H2O forever!

Hi Lt. G,God bless your 140 pounds of soaking wet ...

2008-05-20T10:14:00.000-07:00

Hi Lt. G,
God bless your 140 pounds of soaking wet raw American fury...wait oh yeah add the 70 pounds of raw American gear
140+70 = 210! (You heavyweight contender, you!)I think you need to eat more, you most likely just lost ten pounds in sweat. As I read my favorite mil bloggers, universal topics of disdain and disgust poke their ugly heads out from the deep dank hole they have been hiding in, waiting for just the right moment to ambush poor unsuspecting soldiers like yourself. I am compiling a list and hope to write my own book one day...(JK)of said annoyances, pet peeves, and major pains in the ass. I have not yet numbered them in order of there gravity, perhaps I will create a power point presentation for you (ha ha), but, for today let's give this #1 DEAD RED priority on the list of Things Soldiers Hate...the F*CKING HEAT!!!
I have written about said Heat myself in a tribute to all you soldiers roasting over there like pigs on a spit...the post is called "The Green Oven" I even wrote a poem about the subject. I suggest you read The Usual Suspect's blog post on this very topic, entitled "Through A Heat Stroke Darkly" I know you will enjoy. His blog is called "Iraq. The Purgatorium." As I cautioned him, please don't get heat stroke...I am sorry to say you will have to keep drinking the Power Point punch or it will soon look like you have been drinking the Kool Aid! (And I don't mean the warm chai Kool Aid) Try to keep your wits about you, for I do not want to see you refrigerated or air conditioned! And on a final note, some musical selections to sweat by:
1. One Foot In Hell - Queensryche
2. Burn In Hell - Twisted Sister
3. Hell In A Bucket - Grateful Dead
(Now there's some irony!)
4. Hell Hole - Spinal Tap
5. Raising Hell - Run DMC
6. Hell Bound - Pantera
7. Cowboys From Hell - Pantera
8. Highway To Hell - Marilyn Manson
9. Run Like Hell - Pink Floyd
10.The Hell Song - Sum 41
11.Casanova In Hell - Pet Shop Boys
12.Good Day In Hell - The Eagles
(Is there such a thing?)
13.Into The Lungs of Hell- Megadeth
14.Hell Patrol - Judas Priest
15.Hell & Consequences - Stone Sour
16.Hell Yeah(PimpTheSys)-Dead Prez
17.Burning Hell - REM
18.Hell - Beck
19.Hell Yeah - Montgomery Gentry
20.Hell - Foo Fighters

Now you have a start on your next Gravedigger's Mix Tape, Vol. III. Sorry my list was climbing like the thermometer. Sorry it's mostly rock or metal, but, apparently heat stroke requires LOUD HEAD BANGIN' to do it justice! In closing, I enclose the words sung by "Riff" in West Side Story from the song "Cool." I expect you and all the Gravediggers to have this choregraphed, rehearsed and on You Tube by next week. Peace out, homey

Boy, boy, crazy boy,
Get cool, boy!
Got a rocket in your pocket,
Keep coolly cool, boy!
Don't get hot,
'Cause man, you got
Some high times ahead.
Take it slow and Daddy-O,
You can live it up and die in bed!

Boy, boy, crazy boy!
Stay loose, boy!
Breeze it, buzz it, easy does it.
Turn off the juice, boy!
Go man, go,
But not like a yo-yo schoolboy.
Just play it cool, boy,
Real cool!

Two things I know: I went down to Vegas to look fo...

2008-05-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

Two things I know: I went down to Vegas to look for a job. It was HOT. I figured, hey, be a man; turn off the air conditioner, roll down the windows. If you're here to work, deal with it. So I pulled up to the Union Hall, lit a smoke, and turned to the guy next to me. "Wow, I said, must be ahunnert degrees out there." "Yeah," the other guy sez, "cooled down real nice, ain't it?" Long story short, I got back in the pickup, rolled the windows up, turned the air conditioner back on, and went home.

Oh, yeah, after 'Nam, I came back to SoCal in August, wound up wearing a tanker jacket, in the afternoon. Really, no shit, I was cold

But ask yourself, "How could it get worse?" How, if it's HOT, and WET. Now, if that's a woman, you're in luck. But if it's a country, LOOK OUT!

Something like that?

I used to look at the weather in the MNC Battle Up...

2008-05-20T06:56:00.000-07:00

I used to look at the weather in the MNC Battle Update and the temp stayed at 118 for 4 months. Never higher and rarely lower. Look on the good side. In October you'll wake up at 0600; walk to wearever and get a shiver in the early morning cold. Then look up the weather and realize the morning low was 85 degrees at 0400.
Also getting into a hot car with the windows up won't bother you for at least a year.

I always noticed, never in temperatures like yours...

2008-05-20T06:15:00.000-07:00

I always noticed, never in temperatures like yours but close, that the people that sent me and mine out to do our duties, were living in a controlled climate zone, or at least had lots of shade and concrete bunkers buried below the scorch zone. Not that they thought they were better, but because they knew 'we could handle the environment and the mission'.

1. Don't know how you handle it now.2. Wuz 122-125...

2008-05-20T05:17:00.000-07:00

1. Don't know how you handle it now.
2. Wuz 122-125 on the hot days, then.
3. Troops would ask, "How hot is it, sir?"
4. Fearing heat casualties caused by bad info, would answer, "It's plenty hot."
5. Troops were satisfied with that.
6. Used Israeli water discipline to avoid heat casualties.
7. Had Flak jackets and steel pot helmets, not IBA's and MICH or PASGT. About same weight and comfort- but amazingly comfortable during and after mortar or artillery incoming.
8. Stay safe.
V/R JW

I can't imagine working, much less fighting, in th...

2008-05-20T02:08:00.000-07:00

I can't imagine working, much less fighting, in that type of heat. I have problems adjusting to the high 90's.

So, not only do you have to watch out for tango's, but now, also have to watch out for the heat.

Stay safe and be careful.