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The Temps of War

Feb- 5-2004 » Filed Under: Iraq News

The Wall Street Journal has a very interesting article today regarding civilian Halliburton employees that agree to work for a year in Iraq. Unfortunately, you need a subscription to read the entire article, but I've included a few excerpts below.

[Link to Full Article] (Subscription required)

By RUSSELL GOLD
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

HOUSTON -- In a shuttered J.C. Penney store here, more than 500 job recruits sat at long tables and leafed through packets of information. John Watson, a staffing supervisor for Halliburton Co., welcomed them with a somber introduction.

"I'd like to start out by saying we've already had three deaths on this contract so far," he told the workers, who had signed up to support the U.S. military in Iraq. "If you're getting any pressure from home, if you have any doubt in your mind ... now is the time to tell us. We'll shake hands and get you a plane ticket home."

By the end of that early January week, four of every five recruits would be packing to leave for a one-year stint in Iraq. There, in the largest mobilization of civilians to work in a war zone in U.S. history, they drive trucks, deliver mail, install air conditioners, serve food and cut hair...

Halliburton, which has an open-ended logistics contract with the Army, has 7,000 workers on the ground in Iraq and is bringing another 500 each week to Houston. It posts fliers at truck stops and takes out banner ads on job-listing Web sites. Most recruits come in by word of mouth. So far, Halliburton has plenty of takers...

During a week in Houston, the new hires are trained in the use of chemical-biological weapons suits. They get physicals to make sure they can handle desert living. An accountant explains that they have to spend more than 330 days outside the U.S. to avoid federal income taxes. If the recruits pass their physical and background checks, they are issued military IDs and are dispatched directly from Houston without a trip home for a final goodbye...

Despite the rewards, he knows the risks are real. A Vietnam veteran, he was in a convoy near Baghdad in October when a rocket-propelled grenade skidded under the fuel tank of a truck ahead of him. It missed. "I thank the Lord he was a bad shot," says Mr. Turnbull.


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