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How hot is it?

Liberty Belle

Well-known member
I posted this on the political bull session, but since a good share of the more normal posters on this board stay away from there, I'm going to share these pictures with you folks too.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been complaining when the mercury has been hovering around the one hundred degree mark for the past few days. I’ve quit complaing after I got these pictures from one of “my” young soldiers stationed in Baghdad. He’s in the army on his second tour of duty, his first tour was in Afghanistan.

This time he is based at the airport in Baghdad where he is a mechanic. Many of the vehicles they have to fix are too large to park inside, so they work on them on the pavement outside. One morning last week Zeb held a digital thermometer beside the vehicle they were working on outside and you can see from the picture that it is pretty darn hot.
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Don’t know if you can see this one, but it says 170.5 degrees!!! This is when they decided to quit until after dark. I don’t remember for sure, but isn’t 170 degrees the temperate required to boil alcohol? Seems like that’s what the old guys who grew up during prohibition told me.
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Living dangerously in more ways than one. Note the gas can our hero is sitting on while he enjoys a cigarette in the shade. The rifle goes everywhere with him, even to bed where it is attached to his ankle while sleeping. They are allowed to leave their rifles outside the shower, but it must be immediately available to them.
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One of the tanks brought into the shop.
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It could get hotter soon – note the No Smoking sign on the side of the gasoline tanker! Gotta have a little fun sometimes…
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This is my favorite of all the pictures. Who could have imagined that a young soldier from South Dakota would someday sit on the Butcher of Baghdad’s throne and live to tell the story. Here’s Zeb enjoying himself in Saddam’s palace. Way to go kid!!!
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Ranchy

Well-known member
OMG!!!!!!!!!! :shock: I can't even imagine living in that kinda heat.........poor guys and gals. :shock:

Love the pic of him in the throne, though.........he's a very handsome young man! :nod:

Thanks for sharing...........
 

the_jersey_lilly_2000

Well-known member
Those temps must be reflected off of somethin that is sittin in the sun, the tire, on the vehicle or somethin, the highest recorded temperature on earth is 134 degrees recorded in Death Valley California.
 

Liberty Belle

Well-known member
Yup, that's the killer. Everything out in the sun is reflecting back. Can you imagine having to lay on your back under one of those machines while the temps around you are this high? You can see that he is holding the thermometer in his hand not far from the ground and the vehicle he is trying to fix.

I'm sure the temperature in the shade away from anything that might reflect back isn't that high, but how do you get away from the heat when your work requires you to touch all the surfaces radiating this heat?
 

the_jersey_lilly_2000

Well-known member
Weather there, I've read, is similar to West Texas weather. To me it's not as bad even tho the temps are way up there, as the humidity here makes it feel. Plus it gets cooler at night there than here. So at least there is some relief. Too bad they can't bottle the night time temps and take em out durin the day time for some relief.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
I think my quads seat was hotter than that when I set my rear on it a little while ago to check irrigation water--got to remember to put it in the shade :roll: :lol:

I feel for them poor guys- bad enough getting that hot, but then living in a world of dust and sand that hot- and the risk of getting shot at... :(

Temp here is 96 with 25mph winds that feel like they're coming off a blast furnace-- supposed to get to 101 today and stay in the 100's for the next few days... We are on the verge of setting a new high temp record for the month of July- First week is the 3rd hottest on record next to two years in the 80's (when we had such a horrible drought)...
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
I don't know how the soldiers stand it. It is nothing short of amazing.

I'm glad you posted this on Political Bull, LB. But I'm sure all the feedback from there won't be good.

I feel so bad for those boys, yet so proud of them. Men...they are MEN
with an important job to do and they are doing it.

Thanks.
 

sw

Well-known member
Thanks for sharing those LB, wish you would of put them on yesterday morning so I could print them so Hanta could put them in her display booth in Reno. sw's man has been in the Mojave training for Iraq, said its only 120 or so there every day. I would melt like a grilled cheese sandwich.
 

nr

Well-known member
I cannot imagine surviving in that heat, let alone working in it!
When does your soldier boy come home?
The picture of him on the throne LOL!
 

Liberty Belle

Well-known member
sw, I wasn't home enough to get anything done in time for Hanta. They would have been good pictures for her to have, especially the temperature ones!

nr, he's got 4 months in of his second tour and since he's supposed to be over there for a year, I guess that makes it April before he comes back? Not sure of my math so I'll have to ask his folks. Zeb's father is a former pastor of ours.
 
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