Would you take a civilian job in Iraq?

[lawrocket 3]

Let's say a company comes to you for your occupational specialty and says, "I'd like you to go to work for us helping to rebuild Iraq."

Would you do it? What would it take for you to do it? Are there jobs you would or would not do?

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[Nightingale 0]

HELL NO.

I think most civilians don't belong in combat zones. they simply aren't trained for it.

[pajarito 0]

Yes. If I wasn't married with kids, I only operated within friendly line perimeters, and I was allowed to be very well armed just like the military. Otherwise, as a civilian?...HELL NO!!! It would also have to be for a significant amount of money. Tax free, of course.

[wmw999 2,170]

I could imagine it. Requirements? Well, $100,000 isn't enough to entice me to do anything that I wouldn't do for less (well, maybe not a LOT less). So I guess the requirement would be to have expenses and vacations paid for so that what I got could go towards savings. Lots of books for my time off, and a job that was necessary and valuable enough in my eyes to make it worth risking my life for. Heck -- I risk it for skydiving and motorcycling, why shouldn't I risk it for helping people?

Yes, behind reasonably secure lines would be good.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[PhillyKev 0]

Quote

I only operated within friendly line perimeters

Are there any?

[Kennedy 0]

I've often wondered what the life of a mercenary is like....

witty subliminal message
Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards.
1*

[CanuckInUSA 0]

Quote

I've often wondered what the life of a mercenary is like....

I'd rather be a skydiving and/or BASE jumping bum. I have no business being in Iraq!!!

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[Guest]

Quote

I've often wondered what the life of a mercenary is like....

I've spent a lot of time reading and researching this subject, and I've come to one conclusion...

The life of a mercenary is often nasty, brutish, and short.

mh

.

"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."

[Kennedy 0]

That's why I've been wondering and not endeavoring to find out.

witty subliminal message
Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards.
1*

[Gawain 0]

First, there isn't a civilian contractor there that isn't very, very, well paid, easily a healthy six-figures (likely over $200K/yr minimum). I would bet that some are easily over $500K, and that all of them are being paid as expatriates - taxes are being footed by their contract companies.

Second, if the company has "appropriate" security measures in place (I know it's no guarantee, but a deterrent helps), then that's a consideration.

I would not go there on my own.

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[Guest]

Quote

Let's say a company comes to you for your occupational specialty and says, "I'd like you to go to work for us helping to rebuild Iraq."

Would you do it? What would it take for you to do it? Are there jobs you would or would not do?

If I didn't have anyone at home who cared about me and would worry incessantly, I'd do it.

I'd have several conditions, though.

The first would be a period of cultural immersion, to get to know the language, culture and so forth.

The second would be very competent, fanatically loyal and heavily armed guards. After all, if I'm in constant fear of my physical security, I can't do my job, can I?

Next, although I recegnize that there are no safe places in a frontless guerilla warzone, I would stipulate that I won't go into the "Sunni Triangle", or other areas where Fedayeen Saddam might be waiting to chop off my head or incinerate me in my car and hang my charred corpse from a lamppost.

Given those conditions and tax-free...yeah, I'd do it.

There are obviously a lot of people who are willing to take bigger chances though, and some of them paid with their lives.

mh

.

"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."

[chuckbrown 0]

Quote

First, there isn't a civilian contractor there that isn't very, very, well paid, easily a healthy six-figures (likely over $200K/yr minimum). I would bet that some are easily over $500K, and that all of them are being paid as expatriates - taxes are being footed by their contract companies.

Second, if the company has "appropriate" security measures in place (I know it's no guarantee, but a deterrent helps), then that's a consideration.

I would not go there on my own.

DITTO. Major bucks, reasonable security and company.

[PhillyKev 0]

Quote

First, there isn't a civilian contractor there that isn't very, very, well paid, easily a healthy six-figures (likely over $200K/yr minimum). I would bet that some are easily over $500K, and that all of them are being paid as expatriates - taxes are being footed by their contract companies.

Second, if the company has "appropriate" security measures in place (I know it's no guarantee, but a deterrent helps), then that's a consideration.

I would not go there on my own.

Berg went over and couldn't find work, that's why he was coming home.

[livendive 8]

I would not do it for 100k, but I don't think anyone is. The offers in my field were 180-300k for a one year commitment. Everything over 80k tax free as long as you didn't return to the States in that 1 year period. 3 vacations in the year, transportation and hotel expenses paid, so you could just have a loved one and/or your kids meet you somewhere in the world.

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[mailin 0]

Quote

First, there isn't a civilian contractor there that isn't very, very, well paid, easily a healthy six-figures (likely over $200K/yr minimum). I would bet that some are easily over $500K, and that all of them are being paid as expatriates - taxes are being footed by their contract companies.

Second, if the company has "appropriate" security measures in place (I know it's no guarantee, but a deterrent helps), then that's a consideration.

My husband nearly took a computer network/DBA job in Elat, Israel (time split 50/50 between Elat and Jerusalem) in 2000. They would have paid $80,000 with ALL expenses paid and 3 return trips to the US for a one year committment. For anyone that doesn't know, Elat is on the Red sea and is supposed to be much like a resort town. It sounded like the ultimate job! Until we found out that the job in Jerusalem would be in the Palestine occupied area - with no real protection supplied by the company.

Sorry... no amount of money would have made me comfortable with that.

The positions were pulled just 2 months after my husband first interviewed for them. Guess we weren't the only ones with similar concerns.


Jennifer

Arianna Frances

[Gawain 0]

Quote

Berg went over and couldn't find work, that's why he was coming home.

Kind of substantiates my point. Berg was on his own. Hamill, by contrast had a contract before he left for Iraq.

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[benny 0]

shit, i'd do it for 50k though i'd definitely ask for more... 50k tax free and i'm out of debt, finish school, skydive, and buy some land, hell yeah

Never go to a DZ strip show.

[kallend 1,679]

I get paid more than that to work in Chicago!

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[akarunway 1]

I was offered a job there last year around 200k to help w/ the powerhouses and oil refineries. That was before all the shit started. I wouldn't go now for 500k. What good is the cash if you're dead? I'll stay here for my 100k this year

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

[rickjump1 0]

Please be careful.

Do your part for global warming: ban beans and hold all popcorn farts.

[RoadRash 0]

Quote

HELL NO.

I think most civilians don't belong in combat zones. they simply aren't trained for it.

I agree...I'm definitely a "NO WAY JOSE" on this one...but there are some people out to make a buck...(I just wonder whether or not they took into account the fact that gun fire might happen on a regular basis...)


~R+R

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Fly the friendly skies...^_^...})ii({...^_~...

[kmcguffee 0]

By civilian, do you mean non-military jobs? Because, if you mean non-military then the answer is "yes", I've already volunteered but I'm not exactly a civilian. I would be armed and working for the government. I would not work there unarmed.

"Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do." Ben Franklin

[peacefuljeffrey 0]

Ya can't spend it if you're hanging from a fuckin' bridge.

I voted NO.

Besides, why would I want to go live in a shitty place with nearly none of the comforts of home? For money?! Surrounded by psychotic muslim terrorists? No, thanks.

-

-Jeffrey
"With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

[SkydivingNurse 0]

I would. I'm a Registered Nurse, I spent six years in the US Navy, and I would go. Not as any sort of combatant. I would go to help heal people. I sort of dig the whole idea of me being a servant to the people. Do I get mad at the terrorists? Absolutely. Would I pull the trigger and shoot someone to save a friend? I honestly can't say, because I've never been in that position and have no idea how I would react. Would I do everything I could to save the life of a patient? Without hesitation. I would like to be compensated for the danger, though.

[Casurf1978 0]

Quote

I was offered a job there last year around 200k to help w/ the powerhouses and oil refineries. That was before all the shit started. I wouldn't go now for 500k. What good is the cash if you're dead? I'll stay here for my 100k this year

Back in 1990 my step dad was offered a job in Kuwait, the whole family including myself just had this weird notion not to go. Thank god we didn't.

But HELLS NO, I wouldn't take a job in Iraq, tax free, vacations whatever HELL NO. Other ways to make decent money out there besides going into the middle of a war zone.