HAVE YOU MAILED YOURS TO CPT Patti yet? It is 113 degrees in Baghdad today. Perhaps one of you with medical connections back home can get a discount like the lady in this story.

There are any number of dangers a soldier in Iraq faces that no one can control.

But Char Harley has found she can do something about one of those dangers: the heat.

Daniel Harley has been in Baghdad since May 31. He was deployed to Kuwait on Mother's Day, May 18, spent a week and a half there and has been in Baghdad ever since.

Char says temperatures topped 100 in Kuwait, and similar heat was expected in Baghdad.

Char said the extreme heat has had both her and her daughter-in-law, Lidia, worried about Daniel's health.

"What's going to help 114 degrees?" Char said.

Lidia, who lives in Giessen, Germany, where her husband is normally stationed, spoke to Daniel on May 24 and asked her husband what she could do for him, Char said.

Daniel -- who is part of a peacekeeping force searching vehicles and guarding posts -- asked that she send him ice packs since the heat is so extreme. She sent him fewer than 10 packs, since the rest had sold out.

So Lidia asked her mother-in-law for help.

Char, who works for Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center -- Plymouth, wondered if she could get instant, one-use cold packs from the hospital at a cheaper rate than the normal $3 to $4 per pack.