Posted on 06/29/2013 4:53:16 AM PDT by Big_Harry
I try to ignore the stupidity that seems to rush in waves from our, so-called, government, but the following email from my daughter has really set me off. Yesterday, she told me that my son-in-law, (along with every other soldier and Marine in Afghanistan), was working in 125 degree heat. Now this morning I get this report:
"Just got an email from_____. He said they just received communications saying in an effort to cut costs, they want them to turn their thermostats in their living areas up to 77 when they are there and 81 when they aren't. Are you kidding me?! It's 125 degrees there! It's a crappy place! The one luxury they have and enjoy is air-conditioning!
Sorry. It makes me so angry how the guys doing their jobs are being treated in an effort to "save money." Considering all the cuts that can be made elsewhere.
I love you, Daddy. We're just going to have to keep praying these guys home."
Practically speaking, living in an area with extended extreme heat needs some creativity. There are some expensive and some inexpensive ways to do this.
To start with, Americans have long looked at heat and cooling in terms of convection—hot and cold air. But just as important is invisible infrared light. You can be in a room with cold air, but if you are being bombarded with IR, you will feel very warm.
So the first thing is to paint structures with IR reflective paint. 45% of solar radiation is in the IR band, so this really, truly matters. The air of a room can be much warmer, without IR, but still feel quite cool.
Next, also important is insulation. Right now, flexible, thin sheet aerogel is being produced. 3mm of aerogel insulates as well as several feet of fiberglass. If you lined a sleeping bag with it, you could sleep through a blizzard in the arctic, and possibly overheat from body temperature alone.
Wrap an oven, or a refrigerator with it and it will use a fraction of the energy it normally uses for heat and cold. It would be worth it for the military to make an investment in it.
Next up is the heating and cooling of personnel. For years, the Army has known that when soldiers are moved to a place with a very different climate, it takes a minimum for their bodies to acclimate. But acclimation only goes so far.
While someone who has been in the heat needs several hours to cool off inside, in cool air; laying down in a shallow tub in 84 degree water, within a half an hour they will be nearing hypothermia (too cold). The rest of their off time will then *not* be spent in cooling down, but normal temperature recovery of other body systems that need recuperation as well.
In extreme heat, not just hydration, but blood salts balance are critical to operating effectively. Since they carry canteens of water, they should also carry ampules of assorted body salts to help them fend off heat exhaustion and heat stroke. A good mix of electrolytes are table salt (sodium chloride), potassium salt, baking soda as a blood pH buffer, a little magnesium salt, and a few trace salts found in seawater, and some sugar as well.
If you put one such ampule in a canteen of water, the water is much more effective at hydrating the body and balancing the blood salts.
Unless it's rainy season. Then it's really miserable.
We had a swamp cooler in NM. It was not a very good way to keep the house cool. On the contrary. We keep our air at 80 or above in Arizona. With temps as high as they are this week, our a/c would be running around the clock. Well, with night time temps I n the 80s, it is running constantly. We could not do this in a humid environment. But I am guessing that Afghanistan is not humid.
Our friends with swamp coolers in this area hate them.
I have to keep a cool mist humidifier running when it is so hot and dry outside. It says to only put cold water in the machine. There is no such thing as cold water at this time. The water out of our taps is very warm to hot all the time. It does save on the gas water heater.
I think that it speaks volumes that most of you good “Conservatives” missed the point of this post entirely! The point was not the heat, but the continued lack of respect for our fighting men and women that is coming from the White House.
The ideas for supplemental air conditioning will probably be appreciated by Mr. Obama when the NSA sends this post along to him.
... Unless it's rainy season. Then it's really miserable.Not for a grunt. ;^)
(arguing with a grunt is like wrestling with a pig,...everybody gets dirty, and the pig loves it.)
Not about to argue with a grunt. Wouldn’t be prudent.
Yes, I think that we need to make a concerted effort to see people really get saved and delivered, not anymore of the junk that passes for Christianity in 90% of our churches.
Drop the 501C3 status.
Drop denominational barriers
Win the lost (Acts 2:38)
Disciple new believers
Make the light so bright that all men will be drawn to it.
BTW, Freerepublic has change so much toward the left that I hardly recognize it anymore. What Happened?
Big Harry, YOU ARE WRONG. I am here, you are not. This decision has EVERYTHIHG to do with the capacity of the grid, and the availability of contractors to fix them when self-entitled whiners try to keep their rooms at ice box temperatures and their units freeze. It’s not like the Gestapo is going through rooms with thermometers to see if your room is 74 vs 77 like you envision. Second, I don’t like the fact that mid-rat meals have gone away either, after all, I have Marines who used those meals as their “main meal” of the day…but they have to scale back services on that contract. Do you think that the day will come when it is time for us to be gone that “POOF” everything that we brought and use here will just disappear with us on a C-17 with us? Of course it won’t. No one is starving but everyone IS spoiled. Every single person who is not out living in an F’ing hole is doing really well for comfort around here, but here is the kicker…the ones walking the patrols and living in dirt aren’t the ones complaining. Finally, not that this is a big deal or anything…I haven’t been a Gunny for a really long time. I am a Master Gunny, and I have been doing this for a really long time. Not everything is a conspiracy and our ranks are still populated with folks who care about the mission, care about our Marines and their comfort, and are absolutely taking care of business. The MISSION comes first!
Semper Fi!
>> I would request that everyone keep on their largely ineffective representatives about the conditions
Will do.
At the moment (noon), Kabul has 81°F and 23%, wind 16 mph.
Wow, loved the weather in Michigan during the time I spent there...my skin and hair NEVER looked better!! No humidity or a couple days max...just loved it. Loved that I could keep screened doors and windows open...miss that so much.
Winters were another story and I only had problems when I had to drive in it....which was pretty much every day. :) But I am so hot natured that -40 wind chill felt great...for about two minutes.
Now I am back in hotter than Hades (plus hellish humidity) Texas (where I grew up) and am hating this stuff. Michigan gave me a taste of mild, no humidity weather and I MISS IT!!
Where is you, ThunderSleeps, with no AC?
My gran had one in Truth or Consequences, NM and I spent all my summer vacations there as a kid. Since I hate hot and humid with a passion (Texas), I loved spending my summers with her and I don’t recall it ever being that bad even with the swamp cooler.
Of all the places I’ve been, Texas and Florida are the worst for hot and wet.
In fact, I’ve been giving thought to moving back to T or C one day...spent the happiest days of my life there. And I’d love to end my days in a milder climate.
Agree. Reading comprehension is another thing that has taken a big hit here as everywhere else. This was also described as a recent change so the leadership was not previously running the A/C the way many here think is OK. They changed, why? More “sequester” nonsense?
You probably don’t miss it in February!
Now that I have a stay-at-home job and don’t have to commute at all...I don’t think winter would be as bad. As long as I could stay snug as a bug in a rug inside, I could live in Michigan winters.
The one thing I do not miss though in Michigan is the dearth of decent food...Mexican and fast food places....food is so much better in Texas. And, of course, the people are so much friendlier here....present company excluded.
I also would not want to live in the Detroit suburbs where I did before...western MI, where you live, sounds great.
Can’t have everything all in one place....darn! lol
I don’t have to drive too much in the winter and we use wood heat so that’s nice. But as we get older it’s harder to keep up with all the chores. Many Michiganders go south for the winter, that’s starting to sound good to us.
Understood...you sure wouldn’t want to go without in Texas!
Can’t reply to PMs which is odd....keeps telling me my account is too new even though I have done so in the past and joined in 2009.
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