Hot! Hot! Hot!

Imagine sitting inside a furnace with someone tossing sand in your face through an industrial strength fan. If you're wearing full body armor and carrying a weapon, you might be in Iraq. My son said that after 8 hours of post duty last year, he'd pour a pint of sweat out of each of his boots - and trying to sleep in 115 degree heat was impossible. He'd doze off and wake up in a pool of sweat.

LCpl Valliere reports in from at Camp Taqaddum:

Even with the temperature consistently climbing into the triple-digits, operational commitments aren't going to change. Therefore, the Marines are taking extra precautions to make working in the heat less dangerous.

Highs from June through September are expected to average a scorching 110 degrees, while the predicted low rests at an average of 75 degrees during the night, said Gunnery Sgt. James M. Kubacak, 32, the 1st Force Service Support Group's chief weather forecaster.

Photo by: Lance Cpl. Samuel Bard Valliere

Cpl. Joseph J. Jones and Lance Cpl. Miranda G. Brown sit under camouflaged netting to shield themselves from the Iraqi sun while guarding the flight line at Camp Taqaddum on June 30, 2004.

Would you like to help make the troops a bit more comfortable? Here's how you can help. Last year, I sent several hundred cool ties to Marines in my son's company and to other battalions throughout Iraq. These ties are very simple to sew - just a tube of fabric with polyacrimide crystals inside. When soaked in water, the crystals will hold 200 times their weight in water. Our troops wear them around their necks or under their helmets, providing an evaporative cooling effect. They make a difference. Shane said that when the cool ties arrived, it was better than cookies. From my Marine, that is high praise indeed.

Here's a picture of some that will be mailed today to the 1st LAR:

>

The cool tie on the far right is made of snakeskin print fabric. The Marines who got these last year loved them - said it was like wearing a boa constrictor around their necks.

This outreach is possible with the help of an amazing group of expert sewers with big hearts who took our troops on as a project. This year, Patricia Bullock and Mona Rettig have each sewn hundreds of cool ties that will help make the summer heat a bit more bearable.

There are more troops that need these cool ties. The wives and mothers of the 1st LAR are busy sewing the 1,000 ties needed for our Marines with that unit. I'm mailing 100 ties today that my local group of volunteers have just completed. But there are more Marines, sailors, and soldiers who need these ties.

If you have extra fabric, a bit of time, and can sew a straight seam, there are troops who would benefit from your effort. If you can't sew but know someone who does, please spread the word. If you know of a group who might like to take this on as an outreach project, please give them this information. I will mail instructions for the ties to anyone who would like to help. If you can't sew, don't know anyone who does, but have a bit of cash (it won't take much) to help, get in touch with me. We can make this happen.

As the above picture shows, the material used does not have to be fashionable. It does have to be 100% cotton in order to wick properly. I shop the bargain bins at Walmart and JoAnne's fabric and have never paid more than $2/yard for ugly but servicable fabric. The crystals can be ordered through www.watersorb.com. 5 lbs. of crystals will make 250 cool ties since each tie takes only 2 tsp. And postage is reasonable. I can priority mail 50 ties in a large envelope for under $9.

If this is something that you can help with, please let me know via comment or e-mail to deb @ marinecorpsmoms.com (remove spaces). You can make a difference

NOTE: Because of comment spam, I've turned off comments to this thread but we're still sewing coolties - just e-mail me for directions.

Posted by Deb at 11:50 AM | Comments (14)