UK troops reveal their new ordeal in 120F Iraq

UK Herald ^ | July 28, 2003 | IAN BRUCE

[FairOpinion]

BRITISH troops have been flown home from Iraq as casualties of the heat amid claims they are being forced to live in squalid conditions.

There are 12,000 UK frontline peacekeeping troops in southern Iraq, and it is said their conditions have not improved markedly since hostilities ended three months ago.

Personnel from units within 19 Brigade, which took over from the Desert Rats of the 1st UK Armoured Division in Basra last month, have contacted The Herald to complain about the lack of basic welfare for the soldiers patrolling the streets of Iraq's second city.

Concerns include tents with no air-conditioning in 120F, having to drink "blood-temperature" bottled water because of a shortage of refrigerators, and fly-infested chemical toilets.

While the cash-strapped Czech Republic has provided its military police detachment under UK command with cooled sleeping quarters and cold drinks, British troops are suffering exhaustion from working in temperatures of more than 110 degrees during the day and then being unable to sleep in humid night conditions where the thermometer seldom falls below 70 degrees.

One military policeman, recently evacuated by air suffering from heat prostration, said: "There were 40 others from the brigade in the same condition on my flight alone. Servicemen and women are being expected to live in conditions which have not improved since the war.

"The only thing that's changed is the temperature. It's gone up by 30 degrees."

A corporal added: "If you can't sleep because of the heat, your efficiency and general health decline rapidly. People are in a state of collapse after three or four days. Most of us are still 'bird-bathing' in water from bowser trucks poured into metal or plastic basins.

"The chemical Portaloos are unusable between eleven in the morning and five at night. They become individual ovens, stinking and filled with flies. We were better off using shovels to create our own individual toilets out in the desert."

A Scottish private said: "The biggest problem is having to get at least 10 litres of water down your neck every day to avoid dehydration. None of it is cool. Most of it is blood temperature. Even the EFI, the forces shop, doesn't have enough refrigeration capacity.

"During the conflict, everyone expected to have to rough it. Three months down the line, you'd think the Ministry of Defence would at least get us a few more fridges ... The people in Whitehall should try living here for a few days."

An infantryman from an armoured battalion said: "None of the vehicles have any form of air-conditioning. They are mobile pressure-cookers be-tween the heat from the engines and the heat from the sun. There's just no way to stay cool.

"Everyone's constantly running with sweat. You'd think the MoD could speed up small comforts like cold drinking water and cool sleeping accommodation. Everyone's knackered all the time."

An MoD spokeswoman said: "Given the extreme conditions temperature-wise in Iraq, we're doing the very best we can. We are constantly trying to improve living conditions. It all takes time." The ministry had no comment on the evacuation of heat casualties.

Patrick Mercer, Tory security spokesman, called for "the immediate funding by the MoD of decent living conditions". Mr Mercer, a former battalion commander who served in Northern Ireland and Bosnia, said: "Without wishing to sound soft and overly-PC, it's time our soldiers received the basic living conditions they deserve to enable them to do their jobs properly." He said the "MoD should wake up to the fact that it's now midsummer in an area where the heat can literally be a killer physically as well as psychologically".

The King's Own Scottish Borderers are among the frontline units in and around Basra.

[FairOpinion]

The heat can be worse than any enemy.

Just think, if the UN hadn's delayed us for 6 months, and we attacked Iraq in September, now it would be nice cool December/January -- no temperature problems.

[Jeff Chandler]

Thank God they're through the worst of it. The temperatures are heading back down, albeit slowly.

[henderson field]

In other words, it's something like living in Utah, but with swarthy sub-human people trying to kill you all the time.

[henderson field]

In other words, it's something like living in Utah, but with swarthy sub-human people trying to kill you all the time.

[Jeff Chandler]

If you ever have to use a porta-potty in Phoenix in July, get in, get done, and get out quick!

[Dr. Marten]

I was just talking with one of my classmates about this very subject at our 10 year reuninon this past weekend.

He is serving as an Army Captain in Iraq. He was telling me how he has never seen the morale at such a low among his men and nearly every one of them is counting the days until their enlistment is up.

One thing he mentioned that I didn't see in this article was the other agitations such as the huge sand spiders, poisonous sand vipers and scorpions. He said that in the evening, if you pour water on the ground, vipers and other snakes surface from out of knowwhere in the sand to absorb the water and god forbid should you have to take position in a fox hole, because they are filled with huge sand spiders and scorpions.

Doesn't sound like much fun to me. I sure wish there were something more that could be done to raise their morale.

[FairOpinion]

I think the government (US & UK) should spend the money and provide them with airconditioning and refrigerators. If at least part of the day they could be more comfortable, it would make a huge difference in their morale.