Posted on 03/14/2003 8:39:04 AM PST by Stand Watch Listen
SOMEWHERE IN KUWAIT - The crack paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division fought a night engagement this week against a tough opponent: the weather.
"It was a pretty good sandstorm. I was amazed by it," said Sgt. Royce Achterberg of Houston. "We fought a good battle with it, and ours is one of the only good-looking tents today."
Maj. Gen. Chuck Swannack Jr., commanding officer of the 82nd Airborne, said wind speeds exceeded 70 knots. Tents were blown clear off this secret base. The day after, sandbags anchored all the tent walls.
The weather here is a warrior, and a key concern as U.S. military planners map their strategy for a possible war in Iraq. Summer temperatures in the Persian Gulf region have been recorded in excess of 120 degrees. In Iraq in April, recorded highs of 90 to 100 degrees are not uncommon.
Wind is also a foe in the desert, where it kicks up blinding sand and choking dust. The 3rd Infantry Division lost four soldiers recently when its Blackhawk helicopter crashed in a sandstorm.
For the 82nd Airborne, wind is a constant worry. The combat brigade in Kuwait works at nighttime parachute landings to capture enemy air bases. Once winds exceed 13 knots, soldiers get blown around on landing, and injuries mount rapidly.
During the 1991 Gulf War, two British soldiers died of hypothermia in the cold February deserts of Iraq.
But it is the heat of the desert that garners the most respect from U.S. soldiers and Marines, especially since they expect to be wearing chemical warfare suits if President Bush gives the order to attack Iraq.
The suits are lined with charcoal to absorb any toxic liquids and gases before they can reach a soldier's skin. That creates quite an insulating barrier.
"They make a great hunting suit when it's cold," said Marine Maj. Chris Hughes, a public affairs officer in Kuwait and a former artillery unit commander.
"It feels like you're wearing a very thick raincoat," said Sgt. Achterberg. "It doesn't breathe, so it holds in your perspiration. It's kind of like being inside a sauna. Every bit of physical exertion you do, it pushes it a little bit further."
When wearing chemical warfare suits, a soldier in 100-degree heat needs to drink 4 quarts of water an hour to stay hydrated, said Col. Larry Godfrey, the Army command surgeon in Kuwait.
Paratroopers carry their own water into battle. Master Sgt. Charlie Thorpe of Tarboro, N.C., the 82nd Airborne's senior enlisted man, ensures that each soldier has at least 6 quarts when he jumps.
Sgt. Raymond Mareno of Mesquite jumps with 9 to 11 quarts of water. "We train in these suits a lot, and the Army gives you plenty of water," he said.
Lt. Gen. Scott Wallace, commander of the Army's V Corps and all Army land forces in Kuwait, said the heat would put a greater burden on logistics.
"You have to drink more water, so you need more water. And you have to take care of your communications systems and computers," he said. "And at 120 degrees, it gets warm inside an M1 tank, too."
The military deals with such challenges through relentless training.
"You're talking to a guy who spent six years at the National Training Center in the Mojave Desert, where it gets pretty warm," Gen. Wallace said.
Maj. Hughes said the Marines train in chemical warfare suits during the summer in Hawaii and California, and they are well aware of the risk that Marines will wear themselves out just trying to function in such gear.
The troops are instructed to wear nothing but a T-shirt and gym shorts under the chemical suits. Maj. Hughes used to rotate artillery crews more frequently when training in the suits during hot weather.
And the troops know what to expect.
"We've been training for this for 10 years," Maj. Hughes said. "It's rare that at some point in a training exercise you don't just mask up, then rehearse decontamination."
Col. Godfrey said the troops are trained to refill canteens carefully in a contaminated environment and to urinate without exposing their skin to the contaminated outer shell of their clothing.
Kuwaitis tend to take afternoon siestas to escape the heat. The country's labor laws require manual outdoor work be suspended once the temperature exceeds 122 degrees.
But that has no bearing on the U.S. military.
"There are no timeouts in war," Maj. Hughes said. "It slows you down. It degrades your abilities. But we will accomplish the mission."
If it slows the military down too much, commanders can switch from day to nighttime operations.
"With our technology, we fight extremely well at night," Maj. Hughes said.
The 82nd Airborne paratroopers counter the draining effects of heat by being in excellent physical shape, Sgt. Thorpe said.
"We run for about an hour each and every day, two or three times around a mile-and-a-half track, to get the heart beating," he said.
Sgt. Achterberg's anti-tank squad puts in a second hour of training by lifting weights or playing volleyball, basketball or soccer.
"If we're well-conditioned, it won't slow you down a lot," he said.
Gen. Wallace said the preparation and training also gives U.S. forces an advantage over any foe that decides to use chemical or biological weapons.
"The other guy has to protect himself against it, too. But no one in the world is as well prepared as we are," he said.
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