Karbala, Iraq: A soldier tries to find respite from the 110-degree heat after being in the sun for eight hours with little water while a tank fires on a target only forty meters away that provided cover for militia fighters.

At the beginning of an intense summer when temperatures can reach as high as 130 degrees, the soldiers did not cope well. During each day of combat, tens of people would either collapse or pass out from dehydration to the contempt of the medics who had to treat them. While troops ran under a running hose pipe to cool down, one medic explained, "There’s no excuse for it, all they have to do is drink water."