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Monday, June 06, 2005
The Goddard House asks, I answer
Answers to a few of the other questions from the Goddard House:
My full battle load (aka ‘battle rattle’) is 80 freakin’ pounds. That includes everything: uniform, boots, helmet, SAW machine gun, 700 rounds of ammo, a Camelbak water bladder, a few energy bars, 30+ pound body armor, night vision monocle, extra batteries, etc. When on a dismounted patrol, I carry all that on me. While mounted in the Humvees, I strip down a lot of it and stash it in the truck, somewhere between the hundreds of rounds of ammo for the Humvee’s machine gun, our seats, our weapons, now coolers full of ice (when we can get it) and water bottles, radios, the AC units, etc. When on guard duty, I try to strip it down even further, losing most of the ammo, since there is SAW ammo in the guard towers.
It is routinely hitting 100+ degrees here now, cooling off to the low 70’s, but we don’t really hit that low of a temp until about 6:00 AM or so. (And I’m by no means a hot weather guy. I hate summer even at home, when I’m in shorts.) The armored Humvees do have AC units, that work okay, when they work at all. If you are a gunner (where you sit up in the open, but armored turret), this means your legs are a little cooler while your face is hot. At least then though, you always have a breeze.
The worst is guard duty, when you’re wearing all your armor and just sitting for eight hours in a concrete guard tower that’s baking in the sun all day. I’ve already stopped wearing what clothes I can, including my t-shirt and underwear, and loosen my blouse cuffs. Losing the t-shirt at least allows a little strip around your belly and back to breath a bit, as the body armor is completely covering your chest and back, allowing sweat to just ooze out into the uniform blouse. Other guys have stopped wearing socks in their combat boots and I even go so far as to take off my watch, as that’s another few square inches exposed to whatever breezes we get.
We’ve heard that the heat should top out at 110-115 sometime this summer and yes, we’ll still be wearing all the armor and everything and won’t even be able to roll up our uniform sleeves (in order to protect us from the sun). The other day on guard duty, it supposedly hit 111. The next few days are supposed to be 104, 107, 111. And it’s only June. Fun.
My full battle load (aka ‘battle rattle’) is 80 freakin’ pounds. That includes everything: uniform, boots, helmet, SAW machine gun, 700 rounds of ammo, a Camelbak water bladder, a few energy bars, 30+ pound body armor, night vision monocle, extra batteries, etc. When on a dismounted patrol, I carry all that on me. While mounted in the Humvees, I strip down a lot of it and stash it in the truck, somewhere between the hundreds of rounds of ammo for the Humvee’s machine gun, our seats, our weapons, now coolers full of ice (when we can get it) and water bottles, radios, the AC units, etc. When on guard duty, I try to strip it down even further, losing most of the ammo, since there is SAW ammo in the guard towers.
It is routinely hitting 100+ degrees here now, cooling off to the low 70’s, but we don’t really hit that low of a temp until about 6:00 AM or so. (And I’m by no means a hot weather guy. I hate summer even at home, when I’m in shorts.) The armored Humvees do have AC units, that work okay, when they work at all. If you are a gunner (where you sit up in the open, but armored turret), this means your legs are a little cooler while your face is hot. At least then though, you always have a breeze.
The worst is guard duty, when you’re wearing all your armor and just sitting for eight hours in a concrete guard tower that’s baking in the sun all day. I’ve already stopped wearing what clothes I can, including my t-shirt and underwear, and loosen my blouse cuffs. Losing the t-shirt at least allows a little strip around your belly and back to breath a bit, as the body armor is completely covering your chest and back, allowing sweat to just ooze out into the uniform blouse. Other guys have stopped wearing socks in their combat boots and I even go so far as to take off my watch, as that’s another few square inches exposed to whatever breezes we get.
We’ve heard that the heat should top out at 110-115 sometime this summer and yes, we’ll still be wearing all the armor and everything and won’t even be able to roll up our uniform sleeves (in order to protect us from the sun). The other day on guard duty, it supposedly hit 111. The next few days are supposed to be 104, 107, 111. And it’s only June. Fun.
Posted by: Unknown / 1:22 PM 
