In the company of heroes [Iraq]

The Makaha Surf Report (Forward Deployed) ^ | August 26, 2005 | Caelestis

[gpapa]

I dream of rain, I dream of gardens in the desert sand-----Sting (Desert Rose)

That song is so much more poignant now that I have spent another summer here in Mesopotamia. The climate here is like nothing most Americans have ever seen, let alone imagined. The sun rises at 0600 or so and the first thing you notice in the light is the amount of dust in the air. You can tell whether it will be hell to breathe or if the heat is your only elemental enemy of the day. The sun rises into the sky like an orange disk, then yellow, then white hot as 0900 approaches. The tempature in the summer rarely dips below 80 degrees at night, and as the sun climbs, the mercury in the thermometer chases after as if the the sun and the tempature are in some macabre race. By 1030 the tempature is already hitting 105 degrees, by noon 115 is in sight and by 1400, we have hit our usual summit of 120-125 degrees. It remains that tempature until about 1900 when night blessedly falls over the FOB and the scorching sun is no longer there to torment us. There hasn't been a cloud in the sky in 3 months and we are still another month or two from an actual raindrop or two. Just another 45 days or so of the merciless yellow orb and the blast furnance it creates day after day.

[sono]

Roger that ... HooRah!