NEAR ZUBAYDIYAH, IRAQ

Troops are facing hotter conditions

By Scott Bernard Nelson, Globe Staff, 4/4/2003

he weather took a distinct turn for the worse yesterday. Thermometers on some Humvees and trucks registered as high as 110 degrees, although the real temperature was in the mid-90s. To make matters worse, the Marines marching toward Iraq's capital from the southeast were ordered to upgrade their chemical-biological readiness to "MOPP2." That means they had to don black, rubber outer boots on top of their regular military footwear. They already had been wearing full-body, charcoal-lined Nuclear Biological Chemical suits for the past two weeks.

No sweat can get through the rubber outer boots. So the Marines' regular, leather boots became as soggy and uncomfortable as wet cardboard within hours.

Before the war, many predicted that one of the most daunting challenges facing US and British troops would be the weather. April and May mark the onset of Iraq's hot season. But until now, the weather had been surprisingly mild, and the most bothersome aspects for many coalition troops have been the gnats and flies that are thick in the Fertile Crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

"It feels like a microwave out here," Marine Lance Corporal Christopher Poderis of Charlotte, N.C., said yesterday as he sat exposed to the elements atop a Humvee, manning a .50-caliber machine gun.

"I feel like an ant underneath a magnifying glass. I cannot wait to get to Baghdad, so we can get this over with and I can go home."

This story ran on page A24 of the Boston Globe on 4/4/2003.
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