Posted on 08/19/2005 2:28:12 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
TAMPA - Silver-bearded Vietnam veteran Pete Howatt, more drill sergeant than job recruiter, slowly paced the dimly lit Crowne Plaza hotel ballroom and addressed 36 men and four women seeking a career change Thursday. Nobody shifted in their armless chairs when Howatt spoke.
They hung on his soft, deep voice that delivered a strong opening message in a deliberate style.
``This job is not for everyone. ... We have lost 68 men in 2 1/2 years. ... It is work in a combat zone.''
His trenchant words began a job-recruitment seminar for KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton Inc. that employs more than 50,000 civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. Plumbers, electricians, truck drivers, food-service workers, logistics specialists and other professionals work 12-hour days providing support services to American troops.
It's hard, dangerous work. But the pay is high. And that's the allure.
A KBR food-service worker in Iraq or Afghanistan earns $70,000 or more per year, tax free. Truck drivers, the most dangerous positions, can exceed $100,000 annually. Power plant workers and welders hit six figures, too.
Workers' housing and meals are free, medical insurance is inexpensive and there are few places to blow a paycheck.
A year on the job can change the average person's financial life.
That's why Troy Shannon, of Brandon, applied and interviewed for a position as a power plant worker Thursday.
The 42-year-old, grizzled Navy veteran wants an easier life. His goal is to work a year or two in Iraq and return and buy a sport fishing boat.
He fantasizes a sunny life as a charter boat captain on the Gulf of Mexico.
``I've been a blue-collar worker all my life, and what has it got me?'' Shannon said. ``Between child support, going between jobs, and paying $3 per gallon now for gasoline, it comes to nothing for me at the end of every year.
``This job would let me come home to one paycheck. That's all I need; one big paycheck.''
Am entrepreneurial spirit also motivated Dwight Davis, 43, who flew to Tampa from Atlanta with hopes of scoring a logistics position.
Davis, an Army veteran, is the proud founder of Mammie's Boy BBQ Soul, a new catering company named after his mother that specializes in African-American cuisine.
His earnings overseas would be funneled into the business.
``This will facilitate my self- employment,'' Davis said.
About half of KBR's employees overseas are veterans, such as Shannon and Davis.
``They are not as intimidated by the working conditions,'' Howatt said.
Grim Sales Pitch
After opening the seminar talking about the dangers of a combat zone, Howatt started a 10-minute video presentation of employee life in Iraq and Afghanistan working alongside U.S. soldiers.
Cue the patriotic music? Hardly.
The slide show was set to the sounds of chilling timpani, adagio orchestral music and wordless chants befitting a horror movie, as images of smiling workers in Iraq flashed across the screen.
KBR, which has a 10-year employment contract with the federal government, did not try to paint a pretty picture. The slides showed workers' tight living quarters in tents and in rows of mobile homes called ``containers.''
The next slide show, narrated by Howatt, featured what he called ``our pets in the desert:'' the scorpions, camel spiders and venomous snakes.
``It surprised me that they didn't lie about life over there,'' said Gary Cruz, Jr., 24. ``From what I know from a friend who works there, they told the whole truth today.''
Cruz, a Tampa construction worker with no military experience, was one of about 10 attendees granted an on-site interview.
He left ready to take a food- service job in Iraq. He wants his wife and twin 2-year-old daughters to be able to afford an apartment better than the one they share now near the intersection of Nebraska and Fletcher avenues.
``This is what's best for us in the long run. I want to pay debt, buy a house and get to a better neighborhood,'' Cruz said.
Last Adventure
To work overseas for KBR, workers must pass a series of medical tests and background checks. Once there, they work 12 hours per day, seven days a week, for four months. A 10- day leave is granted after each four-month period.
``Time flies when you're working that hard,'' Howatt said.
Workers can quit at any time without penalty, but working less than 330 days in a 365-day period eliminates the tax-free status of their income, a major benefit of the overseas battlefield job.
For a few applicants Thursday, money was not their primary motivation.
``I look at it as my life's last adventure,'' said Charles Rogers, 44, of Brandon.
The chiseled former Marine turned private investigator wants to be a truck driver in Iraq, the position that has taken the most casualties.
``I hear there's some real hot action going on over there,'' said Rogers, whose resume boasts he has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and a black sash in Wing Chun Kung Fu.
``I don't want to murder anyone. I just want to see some action again.''
Howatt said many veteran applicants believe the trucking jobs are a way to return to combat even though drivers often work unarmed and travel with a military escort.
They realize quickly that they have signed up a for a job rather than the military, Howatt said, and whether or not they stay on the job comes down to money.
``You take away the money, you take away the incentive,'' Howatt said. ``It's like that for all the positions.''
Reporter Steven Isbitts can be reached at (727) 451-2336.
Here's a bad idea in four words.
I expect they don't issue them but I wouldn't be surprised if they obtain them.
You wonder why Haliburton gets big bucks over there? Because they are paying big bucks over there. You can die doing this kind of work. I wish them all luck.
Ping
That ain't easy money.
No such thing as easy money. High risk but high payoff. IMHO, soldiers should get paid much more for hazardous combat duty.
it has little to do with the article but 20+ years' experience move me to conclude that Tampa really sucks.
Then they wouldn't be soldiers.
I wish they had a website for job lisitngs. I and some other friends would seriously consider this.
I went so far as to peruse the KRB website when this all began a few years ago. Seemed harder to get into than it should have been.
Well, none of them can complain later that they weren't warned!
Try crab fishing in the Berings sea in January.
I would rather drive unarmed in Iraq.
*snort* No thanks, I'll get mine from the peaceful little traps off the pier!
YOU have to make a little more effort to contact them. Serious person should be able to connect and go, probably within three months, maybe as little as two weeks, I would think. You have to SHOW them your serious about going, they are not coming to your house to look for you.
Seriously, the company does not allow employees to arm themselves. Under the contract the Army is responsible for force protection, and the company would be liable for any misuse of authorized weapons, so none are authorized. Only about half the employees have any previous weapons training, and the risks of armed employees accidently or maliciously shooting other employees is greater than the benefit of having KBR contribute to the volume of fire.
When the tactical situation deteriorates to the point where KBR employees are needed as shooters, there will be weapons lying around.
Tents, B-huts, containers and Army chow halls
medical insurance is inexpensive
and mandatory, with a huge deductable, and may or may not cover you if you go home on medical demob
and there are few places to blow a paycheck.
Dubai, Pattaya, Amsterdam ... very easy to blow a paycheck, you just have to wait 120 days. Some people blow four paychecks.
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