U.S. Troops Endure 125 Degrees in Iraq

A U.S. military Stryker vehicle moves through a Sunni populated area, Saturday, Aug. 5, 2006, in Baghdad, Iraq. Several Stryker vehicles were seen Saturday in Baghdad's mostly Sunni neighborhood of Ghazaliyah, where Iraqi police used loudspeakers to encourage residents to go about their business and reopen shops because the additional troops were there to protect them. As part of a campaign to curb sectarian violence in Baghdad, the U.S. Army transferred 3,700 soldiers of the 172nd Stryker Brigade from northern Iraq to the capital to reinforce U.S. and Iraqi security forces. (AP Photo/Asaad Mouhsin) (Asaad Mouhsin - AP)

Though most U.S. infantrymen now have air conditioned Humvees, the insurgent threat has also added to the array of clothing they must wear. Many Marines are now required to wear flame retardant suits, gloves and goggles to protect themselves from roadside bombs.

To some troops, the outside danger is less grating than the temperature.

"Everything else doesn't bother me. It's the heat threat gets to me," said Lance Cpl. John Ursery of Raleigh, N.C., as he stood in the shade of a sand barrier in Ramadi, one of Iraq's most dangerous cities.

Some Marines claim to have seen the rubber on their Humvee tires start to melt. But the heat also helps create barracks lore that stretches the boundaries of reality.

Warren, the Marine in Ramadi, claimed he'd once seen the temperature hit 150 degrees in Karma, a city just west of Baghdad. He also purported to have been in a portable toilet that reached 187 degrees.

According to the NASA Web site, the hottest temperature ever recorded was 136 degrees in Libya in 1922.

Regardless, many troops voiced similar complaints _ including many directed toward common portable toilets that trap in heat.

"You can tell people how it is, but they don't experience it until you go into one of those," warned Young, a native of Princeton, Ky., now serving his second tour in Iraq in Ramadi.

Troops have learned to combat the heat with an array of tactics. On the Habaniyah military base, commanders made new Marines patrol around their base in full gear to acclimate themselves.

Many Marines have their own solutions, such as drinking as much water as possible the day before big missions or pre-freezing water bottles before patrols. Others said simple measures such as idle chatter to divert your attention helps _ along with frequent changes of clothing.

"Changing your socks is important. Change them everyday whether you're on patrols or not," Warren said.