5 Feet of Fury

Pedantic Slate writer scoffs at Iraq’s “130-degree heat” from air conditioned NY office

Response from a guy who is actually there:

“A soldier in 40-50 lbs of armor AND ammo AND long sleeves and pants AND helmet AND gloves AND knee pads AND boots who is carrying a rifle AND carrying 10 lbs of water IS ‘a solid object.’ Furthermore, said soldier DOES operate on ‘heat-conducting surfaces like sand, concrete, or asphalt,’ NOT ‘in a ventilated location’ — oh, and is either standing or moving while doing so, as well.

“The effective temperature to a soldier here is much more like 145-150 degrees during the peak of summer — not 130 or 124.

“Feel free to leave your Ivory Library and actually check it out some time, David Sessions.”