Posted on 05/19/2007 4:58:07 AM PDT by Allegra
WASHINGTON, May 18 — Casualties among private contractors in Iraq have soared to record levels this year, setting a pace that seems certain to turn 2007 into the bloodiest year yet for the civilians who work alongside the American military in the war zone, according to new government numbers.
“I’ve been shot at, had my truck blown out from under me, had an I.E.D. hit about six feet away from me,” said Gordon Dreher, who broke his back driving in Iraq. He is back in Brick, N.J., with his dog, Dancer.
At least 146 contract workers were killed in Iraq in the first three months of the year, by far the highest number for any quarter since the war began in March 2003, according to the Labor Department, which processes death and injury claims for those working as United States government contractors in Iraq.
That brings the total number of contractors killed in Iraq to at least 917, along with more than 12,000 wounded in battle or injured on the job, according to government figures and dozens of interviews.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Stay safe, guys...
Listen:
Having been a contractor over there, you get paid VERY well (it’s called hazardous duty pay) and you go over there full well knowing the risks.
No one is forcing these guys to go.
The money is a huge draw.
So these folks should either quit complaining, or stay at home. either way, they should STFU.
Just curious -- could you put this into some perspective? Don't divulge anything personal, but just wondering if you could give some details or examples.
I gotta love the way the NYT consistently skirts the Clinton contribution to 'downsizing' the military.
That said, Stay safe over there!
I lost my best technical manager to General Dynamics....
They went trolling through his Marine Reserve Squadron with $150K per year salaries and $30K signing bonuses....
We sent him off with one of my companies VoIP “soft phones” so he could stay in touch. We spoke to him for the first time last week after he had been there for about three weeks.
Won’t say where he is at but he is based at a Marine camp. He did not complain but the working conditions are horrendous. 12 hour days at a minimum, flies and mosquitoes in large swarms and annoying numbers of gnats....
He’s tough, he can handle it....He’s a Gunny....
So how does one find out about contractor opportunities over there? My lack of funds is about balanced with my desire to keep my head at this point.
Is $100,000 tax free good enough?
No matter who was going to be president in the 90s, down sizing was going to take place. That’s one, and two, it’s been 5 1/2 years since 9-11 and over six years since President Bush took office. More than enough time to build a military in a size we need.
Two contractors from a company in my building were killed in Iraq. All of the initial coverage said it was the work of insurgents. After a long investigation though, it turns out that one of them blew the whistle on a corrupt official within the Iraqi Ministry of Defense. It appears this guy took out his mob-style revenge, and set things up to make it look like the work of insurgents. Point being that the situation in Iraq is so complex, it is impossible to generalize about the reasons the danger exists.
FWIW, there were a good number of civilian contractors in Vietnam. They made some multiple of what the pay for their specialty would be in the States and had little to spend it on in Vietnam.
Yes. Thanks.
Personally, that doesn’t seem like a lot of money for the risks one is taking, the conditions you have to live under, plus the extra working hours and sacrifice of being away from your family.
You gotta figure the guys going over are “skilled workers” so they probably would draw at least $60K here (before taxes)...and that’s probably for an 8 hour day. Add to that extra hours (say a 12 hour day) and their pay here would be at least $90K (or more if they were hourly.)
No taxes is nice, but if you have a family, and deductions and make around $100K, your “real” tax rate is probably 15 percent or less (depending on your exemptions/dependents.)
Anyhoo, just thinking out loud...seems they should get more.
He did it with the agreement of the Pentagon and, more importantly, a Republican Congress. There is more than enough blame to go around for all. The greater tragedy is that the Republican Congress and the Republican president did nothing to reverse it.
200+K a year for work with DynCorps for some specialties that I know of. It’s a risk, but a risk worth taking for some.
Thanks. I would guess that would be the exception, no?
“that doesn’t seem like a lot of money for the risks one is taking”
That’s the way much of the professional military is seeing it. Many of the contractors are co-located with military personnel and the word is getting out about how much contractors make. From what I’m hearing it creates morale problems in some cases. A senior Non-Com, Cpts and Majors on their second or third tour are saying, “what am I, chopped liver?”
More Americans are killed in the US by illegal aliens each year than are killed all over the world (including Iraq) by AQ types. Think you’ll see those numbers in the NYT?
Apples and oranges.
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