Heat of Battle Takes Toll on U.S. Forces - Brutal Temperatures in Iraq
/Despite military efforts, troops are unable to avoid combat during
summer. Health woes have sidelined some as temperatures near 130. In
two days of combat, U.S. Army Spc. Steve Koetting dodged bullets,
overcame sleep deprivation and endured the stress of fighting
grave-to-grave in a cemetery against an enemy who rarely showed his
face. In the end, however, it was Iraq's oppressive heat that put the
21-year-old soldier on his back and out of the fight. Koetting is one
of about half a dozen soldiers who have been evacuated from the front
line in recent days because of heat exhaustion and related problems.
Several dozen more have been treated on the battlefield in this
south-central Iraqi city, where U.S. troops and armed followers of
radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr are squaring off. With
temperatures approaching 130 degrees, medics fear that casualties will
increase. [more 
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