What was the ultimate goal in this article? Was it to bring comfort to the citizens of the US that the members of the military aren't suffering so terribly while deployed? Or was it to criticize the troops, make them seem to be over exagerating when we speak of the heat. This is the most ignorant article I have ever read in my life. Please, Mr. Sessions, come spend a day in Iraq, walk in our boots, wear our gear, work outside in the sun all day. And while you're here, maybe you could find a "ventilated location" to set up your thermometer that's not "on heat-conducting surfaces like sand, concrete or asphalt". Are you kidding? Whether the temperature is 124 or 140, have you ever experienced this heat? Have you ever wore 30 PLUS pounds of gear, wearing pants and long sleeves, sitting in a vehicle with no A/C and you can't open the window because that would be risking your life? While our parents and family members are at home worrying 24/7 whether or not they are going to see their service member again, you are taking your time to write an article about how its not so hot here in Iraq? You really know how to boost the morale of all the troops who are hear giving their blood, sweat, tears and LIVES protect ignorant people like you.

Soldier4Life,

THANK-YOU!!! You put it well! If you were standing/speaking in front of me, I would give you a standing ovation!

The ultimate goal of this article was simply to explain how high the temperature in Iraq actually gets. Why even bother explaining this? Because many people, myself included, have heard about temperatures reaching 130+ in Iraq and wondered how this is possible when, as Mr. Sessions mentions, the highest temperature ever recorded in Asia is 124. This leads people like myself to wonder "Well how hot does it actually get (not just in Iraq or Asia, but anywhere in the world)?" It does not lead us to wonder "Why are the troops lying? I hate them now." This isn't an attack on the troops or what they are doing over there, this is a simple examination of the truth. There is certainly no comfort in knowing that our troops operate in 120+ weather with 60 pounds of gear on them. How you concluded that Mr. Sessions was trying to criticize the troops by saying that the actual temperature is 6 degrees lower than some troops have reported is a mystery to me, but it seems that you're taking his reporting of the truth as an attack, which it simply isn't. The explainer column is not meant to be a political op-ed, it's a purely informational column, and I think you've misinterpreted his intentions here.