[MissTwisties]

my husband talked to me a few minutes ago....I was speechless. Someone he works with talked to him about an opportunity to go work on construction in Iraq... It's a contract of one year and one day, good pay with no taxes. He said he could pay off the mortgage on the house and basically all the debts. He doesn't know all the details yet. When he first told me, I said NO F*CKIN WAY you're going over to that place!! Then he explained me the advantages...it kind of put a different perspective when you have the choice to pay a mortgage over 30 years (basically most of the rest of our lives), or in ONE year, and be able to move out of this dump city. Also, many companies would want him bad to be working for them, there is already some of them trying to get him such as Konhover (spelling?). I believe the company he would be working for is "Gilbane". I just don't know how I would do it....be alone with my 2 kids, taking care of everything....I'm sure I could do it, but mentally...how do you say goodbye for one year to the father of your children, knowing he's going to work in a war zone and might never come back??? I cried....the thought of it is not enjoyable one bit. If he goes, he told me it might be around the holidays...

[xvrider]

The money is good but its combat pay...Not a nice thought. Although I have thought about it myself. Another medic I work with just got back, and he said the money is great..But my family needs me right now, so its out of the question..

[MissTwisties]

would be somewhere between $120 to $150 000...no taxes. he also told me they are given a firearm (gun, or something of the sort?) to keep with them at all times. He also told me they would be given a personnal computer (laptop) with internet access by satelite, where he could see us every day...that is if everything goes well, but as soon as it gets too "hot" over there, they can cut off all the communications (cell phones, satellite, etc.) he said they are surrounded by military all the time...yeah right, that's very reassuring when you know those iraqis bomb them and kill them. One good thing I forgot to mention is that he's been a lieutenant in the military for many years...so that does help.

What do you mean by "combat pay"? Guess that's gonna help me feel lonely more than ever.

[xvrider]

"combat pay"..Meaning its so dangerous that they have to pay crazy money to get people to work..Sorry I'm
sure that doesn't help..

[MissTwisties]

no....it doesn't....specially when someone who read this on here just sent me a message on myspace telling me to not let him do it, that I do not want to see his face on CNN with those fuckers standing behind him waiting to chop his head off....isn't it a contractor on construction that got his head cut off months ago? The video was all over the net.... this is getting even more depressing by the minute. :cries:

Originally posted by xvrider
"combat pay"..Meaning its so dangerous that they have to pay crazy money to get people to work..Sorry I'm
sure that doesn't help..

[MissTwisties]

Did he say how it was over there for the non-military workers??

Originally posted by xvrider
The money is good but its combat pay...Not a nice thought. Although I have thought about it myself. Another medic I work with just got back, and he said the money is great..But my family needs me right now, so its out of the question..

[xvrider]

He said it wasn't very great living conditions and it was kinda scary.But for some people money makes it all worth while..Can he do it for a 6 month period instead??

[MissTwisties]

No....he said it's one year or not at all...he told me that even that most military don't even stay for that long (usually periods of 6 months). One year is a long time....very long. When you spend it living in fear for the one you love.

Originally posted by xvrider
He said it wasn't very great living conditions and it was kinda scary.But for some people money makes it all worth while..Can he do it for a 6 month period instead??

[MissTwisties]

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11919
http://icasualties.org/oif/Civ.aspx

[bump909]

risking your life to fight for your country's freedom is heroic, but risking it just so you can pay your mortgage off in one year is foolish.

[MissTwisties]

I guess we can have different views on this....and I'm not saying I agree with my husband going to that shitty place. BUt those contractors going to Iraq are also going to rebuilt that country. Yet, they don't even have a definite number of how many of them civilians are there, and when they die, they come back in a box and no one talk about it. Not only the army is trying to do some good over there, people forget all the civilians going there to rebuilt the country, also leaving their families behind. But they don't count.

Originally posted by bump909
risking your life to fight for your country's freedom is heroic, but risking it just so you can pay your mortgage off in one year is foolish.

[bump909]

the difference is that the men and women of our country that are actually fighting a war over there are not in it for the money.

[MissTwisties]

[bump909]

ok, so you're saying your husband would work over there for the same money he currently makes here? i doubt it.

[MissTwisties]

And you seem to value someone's life on how much money they make versus the risk they take doing their job or the reasons they have doing it. A civilian's life working over there to rebuilt the country, weather he's paid more or less than a military, is no more or less valuable. My husband would make about the same $$ amount he makes here, but without having to pay any taxes on his salary. So yeah, he would bring back every dollar he worked for, but nothing extravagant enough to justify going over there and risking his life IMO.

Originally posted by bump909
ok, so you're saying your husband would work over there for the same money he currently makes here? i doubt it.

[bump909]

i'm not sure i understand your point. good luck with your situation, though.

[benVFR]

WTF man, it is honorable for the soldiers to go over and destroy the country but it is foolish/dishonorable for regular Americans to go over and rebuild the country and help people out? I am not knocking the soldiers but the regular folks going over to help out deserve credit too! Even though they are paying civilians a fortune to work over there, it is still cheaper then letting the government do it. $150,000 for V's husband to go over and do construction is probably cheaper then Soldiers doing the work. Even the soldier might only make $30,000 for the same job the government does everything so inefficiently that it is cheaper to pay private companies/citizens to do the work. That is the reason civilians are getting the work, this is one thing Bush has done that is smart.

V if he wants to do it good for him, whether he is in it for the money or wants to contribute to helping people out over there that's pretty cool.

[MissTwisties]

I would assume also that most military personnel do not necessarily have the skills/knowledge for construction. Those civilians going over there to build have the necessary skills, it's what they do for a living (electricians/plumbers/steal structures/framers and so on...) My husband's job is to estimate costs of building a structure and to supervise the projects. He can also do framing, drywall amongst other things.

Thanks benVFR for your words...

[katana0215]

Originally posted by bump909
risking your life to fight for your country's freedom is heroic, but risking it just so you can pay your mortgage off in one year is foolish.

Im sorry V but I agree with this guy 100%. When you are a father and a husband I cant see taking that risk so you can make extra money. Id love to make 150,000 next year, but I also would love to come home to a wife and kids, and not orphan them.

I understand the logic behind his decision, but its just not a decision I would make if I was a father.

[bump909]

i'm getting my words twisted around here.

all of my comments were exclusive to misstwisties situation. yes, i think it's foolish for a family man to risk his life just in order to pay off a mortgage within one month. even if her husband's motives are selfless, it's still not a wise decision to leave a wife and kid(s) alone at home.. possibly forever.

imo, the risk just is not worth it in this particular case.

[MissTwisties]

All the money in the world or being able to pay off a mortgage faster is not worth loosing my husband and the father of my kids. Unfortunatly, the decision is not mine to make. Knowing my husband, if he decides to go, he will. Altho he did ask my opinion on this, which is something he usually don't do...

[bump909]

sorry to hear that, but that sounds like a different issue altogether.

[benVFR]

Originally posted by MissTwisties
I would assume also that most military personnel do not necessarily have the skills/knowledge for construction. Those civilians going over there to build have the necessary skills, it's what they do for a living (electricians/plumbers/steal structures/framers and so on...) My husband's job is to estimate costs of building a structure and to supervise the projects. He can also do framing, drywall amongst other things.

Thanks benVFR for your words...

V the military is actually very very capable of doing construction. The Army corps of engineers can probably run circles around a lot of private companies.

The point is cost and whether or not there are enough military resources. If the construction is super high risk or part of the battle the army will do it, if not it's cheaper to outsource it. E.x. one of my fraternity brothers in the AF is a civil engineer. He was in charge of the construction and setup for some of the Predator bases in Iraq and Kuwait during the war. You wouldn't outsource that.

The army is doing the construction to rebuild the key parts of New Orleans.

This is kind of funny and OT but there was a recent monster garage episode with a bunch of military guys. None of them had ever done custom car/bike work before but they built one of the tougher projects very easily and with zero drama, there is a lot more knowledge and skill in the military besides fighting.

[MissTwisties]

that's why I said "I assume"....I don't really know anything about all the different apsects the military is able to...

[richw]

I always regretted not doing the Alaskan Pipeline

(There's another one comming)

If your husband makes over 100K per year now
then pay an accountant if all your attempting to do is save the taxes.

Taxes are incremental on the last dollar at 30 %

With a mortgage etc. I would be surprised if your tax bill should be over $20 K.

SOOO get shot at or blown up by an ied for 20K
If this makes sense then higher a psychologist too

Now if it was 300,000 maybe worth a chance ?