[NYTr] Desperate Job-Seekers Snapped Up by Iraq Recruiters

[nytr at olm.blythe-systems.com]

excerpted from 
ATRC Newswire: September 27, 2004
For personal, non-commercial use only

San Antonio Express-News - Sept 23, 2004

Job-seekers quickly snapped up for work in Iraq; KBR offers area
workers jobs in war zone that pay $80,000-$100,000 tax-free.

By L.A. Lorek

When a recruiter with military contractor KBR met Sue Balderrama at a
military job fair in Live Oak on Wednesday, he looked at her resume, asked
her a few questions and then offered her a job immediately.

"Are you going to be around later?" recruiter Tony Shynett asked. "It
doesn't matter, I'm going to hire you."

The job pays between $80,000 and $100,000 tax-free and comes with full
medical benefits plus room and board and life insurance. The only hitch is
that the job is in war-torn Iraq.

Balderrama, 40, a former Marine who now works as a transportation manager in
San Antonio, seemed a little shocked at how quickly KBR wanted her. Shynett
gave her his phone number and told her to call him on Tuesday.

KBR, the engineering and construction unit of Houston-based Halliburton,
found lots of people willing to put their lives on the line to support the
troops overseas. More than 200 people visited with Shynett at the job fair,
and he offered jobs to 50 on the spot. Many wanted the jobs for KBR's
lucrative pay, which some thought reached as high as $200,000.

Most jobs pay about half that, depending on experience, said Halliburton
spokeswoman Cathy Gist. The pay is hourly, the hours are often long, and the
jobs are dangerous.

"We don't sugarcoat it," Gist said. "We give a very clear picture of what
the dangers are."

Just this week, three contractors have been captured, and two of them have
been beheaded. They were not KBR employees or subcontractors.

But KBR's jobs are high risk too. As of July 19, according to KBR, 42
employees and top-tier subcontractor employees have died while working in
Iraq, another 93 have been wounded and two are missing.

"Almost every day a report crosses my desk that catalogues new attacks on
KBR personnel - everything from mortar attacks on camp site to attacks on
truck convoys," Alfred V. Neffgen, KBR's chief operating officer for
government operations, said during testimony last month before Congress.

But like many of the job seekers, Balderrama was lured by KBR's tax-free pay
and benefits. And she says her former military training prepares her to
handle the risks.

"The money is a lot better than anything we can make in San Antonio," she
said.

If Balderrama takes the offer, she could be in Houston at the processing
center within weeks. More than 300 people from all over the country arrive
at KBR's Houston headquarters every week to undergo psychological training,
an extensive physical and lots of paperwork before going to Iraq.

The employees also must sign a year contract, but they can come home at any
time without penalty, Gist said.

Balderrama must take care of some things before she leaves such as making
arrangements to care for her family. Her husband, Jim, supports her, but the
Iraqi job would definitely be hard on her 10-year-old daughter, Serena.

"My daughter, obviously, is not thrilled at all," she said.

In Iraq, KBR builds camps, delivers mail, services equipment, cooks meals,
and provides drinking water and support for nearly 200,000 U.S. and
coalition forces in 60 camps. It has been hiring new employees to go to Iraq
from all over the country.

KBR wants to hire truck drivers, diesel mechanics, locksmiths, food service
workers, carpenters and other tradesmen, heavy equipment operators,
firefighters, medics, administrative personnel and more.

KBR has more than 34,000 direct and subcontractor employees working in Iraq
and Kuwait and the surrounding region. About 11,000 are KBR employees from
the U.S.

Controversy has swirled around KBR because it received a no-bid contract
worth billions to provide services in Iraq, and Vice President Dick Cheney
served as Halliburton's CEO from 1995 to 2000. But others have defended the
company, saying it was the only one capable on a large-scale at short
notice.

Every day in Kuwait and Iraq, KBR serves more than 475,000 meals, washes
almost 16,000 bundles of laundry, provides 2.3 million gallons of potable
water and has as many as 700 trucks on the road at any time providing
transport support to the military.

KBR's reputation is one of the things that attracted Adrian Payton, 30, an
unemployed former Navy seaman, to apply for a job. He has friends who work
for KBR in Iraq in construction and procurement.

"It's a good opportunity to make some good fast cash," Payton said.

Payton, a Gulf War I veteran who served in Kosovo and Somalia, already knows
the working conditions in Iraq's war zone, and the security threats don't
worry him.

"When you're in a hostile situation like that, you need to stay in the
confined areas and not go sightseeing," Payton said.

"Going outside the base is like playing Russian roulette with a 9 mm. You
don't stand a chance."

If Payton goes, he will leave behind his wife, Renetta, and 7-year-old
daughter, Adrienna. But his wife, who accompanied him to the job fair,
supports her husband's decision.

"I'm not worried about him getting hurt over there," Renetta Payton said.
"Adrian is very cautious."

Robert Richaud, 30, unemployed and a former U.S. Army logistics serviceman,
served in Bosnia. But after talking with Shynett, he didn't want to go to
Iraq because the contractors are not allowed to have weapons.

But Mark Conwell, 39, a member of the U.S. Navy retiring in five weeks,
wants to go to Iraq with KBR for the money.

He just bought a house two week ago in San Antonio and moved his wife, Kira,
and two daughters, Brina, 5, and Lashawn, 13, here. They don't want him to
go.

"I know life is going to be bad over there," Conwell said.

During Gulf War I, he served on the USS Midway off the coast of Iraq. And he
may be returning soon. The KBR recruiter offered him a job.

"I feel good," Conwell said. "I got to sell my wife on it. That's the
hardest part."

Keith Hammond, 35, an unemployed construction worker from Cibolo, doesn't
have to convince his wife, Angela. She told him to go to the job fair. His
main motivation is money, but he said would also like to see part of the
world other than Texas.

When Hammond shook the KBR recruiter's hand, he told him, "I'm ready to go
to Iraq."

Shynett looked at Hammond's resume and told him he had a job and to give him
a call.

"I'd leave tomorrow," Hammond said. "I have faith in my country. I'm pretty
smart ... I can survive in the wild."

And if something happens to him, he knows that KBR provides life insurance
that will help take care of his wife and three sons, Justin, 11, Derek, 10
and Toby, 2.