I am looking for truck driving work in Iraq.I have been to the Halliburton web page , it wasn’t much help.I am aking if there are any Dopers who might have a line on someone who can help me.I am a seasoned driver with 20 years or so of over the road expeirience here in the States.
I wouldn’t recommend it.
I won’t go into details right now as I have to get ready for work myself, but I know of a fellow that took a job as a truck mechanic for Halliburton in Afghanistan and they royally screwed him ( partly it was his fault for going along with what was essentially a ‘handshake contract’, but they still screwed him in terms of both job conditions and wages ).
Truck convoys are vulnerable to ambush from both ideological opponents of the regime as well as simple economic bandits. There has got to be safer places to find work, no matter how desperate your economic situation.
- Tamerlane
Well, maybe he is a patriot? I would imagine you can always find work as a trucker in the US but who knows. That said I can’t imagine a good reason to go to Iraq of your own free will unless you want to fight or die.
Hey Camper I’m an aid worker in Iraq. I don’t know anyone at KBR or Haliburton, but I might know some people who could give you some advice. Haliburton/KBR does have a rep for really crapping on it’s employees though.
I’ve driven cars all over the country from Basra to Mosul and I’m happy to answer questions you might have about living and working here. You can right me at my email address on my profile. Please put something in the subject line in BOLD CAPS so I know it is not spam.
If you’re ex military, email me at the address in my profile.
<emailing you on behalf of mrAru…keep an eye peeled for it please=)>
I too have applied for jobs in Iraq. I have e-mailed and snail mailed my Resume to various companies and agencies including Halliburton. The point that has occurred to me is that by filling in application forms and sending our details over the Internet are we exposing our families to possible danger?
I realize it’s dangerous to go to Iraq; I have worked in the Middle East before and am prepared to take the risk because I really need the money, but what if the terrorists start to target contractor’s families back home?
We know the reason for attacks on foreign workers is to destabilize the economy; the country could not function without the ex-pat workers. There will probably always be enough people willing to take the risk but would they still go if their family was the target and not them selves?
It would not be difficult for terrorist groups to obtain personal information on any current or prospective employee. Any information sent over the Internet, on-line registration giving home address and contact numbers, can easily be intercepted and while companies and agencies may use personal information responsibly what is to stop their offices being burgled?
It would only take one or two mysterious explosions, beheading or violent deaths in the homeland of the family of Iraq contractors to guarantee a mass exodus of personnel from that county thereby achieving almost immediately for the terrorists what at present is not really working for them.
Just my thoughts. 
I’ve heard that concern voiced before. I don’t think having your information stolen over the internet is the most plausible way for people to find out you are working in Iraq.
I think a more likely scenario would be for someone to go through your trash, desk, or mail if they wanted to know about you.
I received a security briefing here, once where the guy giving the briefing had gone through the trash of a hotel that a lot of expats live in. He had found old pay stubs, expired drivers licenses, and envelopes with people’s home addresses.
I’m always careful with my documents, but this kind of concern is not up there with my head being the centepiece at the next insurgency banquet or getting the gold in the men’s 10m car bomb catch.
My roommate is a truck driver and has been offered a job in Iraq with a year contract. Basically what he said was that all of your expenses are paid while there and then after a year you are paid 80K and your contract is over. He isn’t going to take the job.
I am working right now and will get the info tonight and post it tomorrow.
BTW- Tamarlane, Bongmaster and anyone else that just chimed in to say “Don’t do it!” Is this just your MO to provide non-solicited advice or do you really care about his safety? I don’t recall the OP asking you what you thought about his seeking employment in Iraq. Jerks. :wally
And I don’t recall asking your opinion on the matter one way or the other. If I choose to offer the advice it is his to take or leave as he pleases. Ass. :wally
I didn’t say don’t do it - I said I’d advise against it.
And yes, his/her safety as well as Halliburton’s poor reputation as an employer both weighed in me offering that bit of advice.
- Tamerlane
Are you aware that in General Questions the proper response to a factual question is a factual answer?
Hello,
First I would like to say thank you to the readers who have responded to my O.P.
Secondly I will say that I understand what risks I would be taking .I live alone and have no dependents,Iwork at a super lowlevel job,with no chance of advancement and with the everrising cost of living these days I will lose everything sooner or later anyway,so the idea of making a good yearly paycheck,is, to me anyway very inticing.
I am an expierienced truck driver about 20 yrs.,over the road here in the U.S.,one problem that I see is that I do not have a birth certificate,none.
So ,again,if anyone can help get in Contact with the right person or persons I will be Gratefull.
If you don’t have any way of proving your citizenship, you are going to have real problems getting hold of a passport. The easiest way to get your birth certificate (assuming you know when and where you were born) is to start here.
Tapioca Dextrin,thank you for the link,i have just used it to ty and get a copy of my birth cert.
<I’m always careful with my documents, but this kind of concern is not up there <with my head being the centepiece at the next insurgency banquet or getting <the gold in the men’s 10m car bomb catch.
[/QUOTE]
I’m impressed by your attitude but could you really decline if an “offer you couldn’t refuse” was made? They could target anyone not just family members, even a total stranger. “If you do not stop working for the infidel company that is bleeding our beloved country and go home we will kill your milkman and all his family”?
Remember that scene in The Godfather where the guy is going to testify against The Family and at the last moment they bring his aged brother from Sicily into court. He doesn’t say anything, doesn’t really know what’s going on, just gets seen. The guy giving testimony, while willing to accept whatever is coming to him can’t let his innocent brother get hurt. Could anyone really stand up and say I am staying in Iraq no matter what they do to anybody?
Obviously some thought has gone into security but not many seem to take it seriously and still discard personal information into the trash without worry. I remember reading somewhere; don’t know if it is actually true, about the US Embassy at the end of the Vietnam War where the hastily departing staff left a room full of shredded documents that the new government spent months painstakingly sticking back together again. The point is that these people have the resources and the time to what they want any time they want anywhere they want and they cannot be stopped.
Just my thoughts.
Camper I work with some people who used to work for KBR/Haliburton so if you send me an email, I’ll put you in touch with them. You will need your passport, so get started now on that.
Beachcomber I’m not sure what your asking exactly. They have threatened to kill people if foreign aid workers don’t leave and I haven’t left. So far, I’ve known about a dozen people killed here, but I haven’t left.
Here’s a breakdown by incident:
6 killed at UN Bombing;
1 driveby shooting;
1 driveby shooting;
1 driveby shooting;
1 driveby shooting;
1 killed mistakenly by US forces;
1 killed mistakenly by US forces;
1 accidental shooting;
Madmonk
Hey! I don’t want to get into a conflict with anyone; I was just trying to make the point that if some one you (or anyone) you PERSONALY know was threatened would you still feel the same? At this time it’s only statistics but not personal.
At a tangent! How can I get a reply to a specific person in one of those “recessed windows” that I see on other peoples posts?
Beachcomber I’m not sure what your asking exactly. They have threatened to kill people if foreign aid workers don’t leave and I haven’t left. So far, I’ve known about a dozen people killed here, but I haven’t left.
Hey Beachcomber, I didn’t think we were in conflict either, I just meant that the threat to people I know here is implicit and I still haven’t left. Sorry if the volume was too high, I get stressed, ya know?
I think after last year’s bombing of the UN and the Red Cross it was pretty clear that all norms in previous conflicts were no longer valid. A lot of people left and a lot more buttoned up in the Green Zone and literally never leave it.
As always the people who suffer the most are the ordinary folk who just want to raise their family.
If you want to put a quote into a post, you can click on the quote icon which looks like a cartoon talk bubble (right underneath the color pulldown menu in the Reply window).