Opportunities still attracting civilians to Iraq

By Ryan Clark

Chaos — that's how one civilian describes the working environment in post-war Iraq.

There were armed insurgents threatening to overtake supply vehicles. Citizens throwing rocks at windshields. Rocket-propelled grenades flying overhead.

"Everybody there was scared," said James Warren, who drove a truck in Iraq for six months. "There may have been a few who weren't, but I didn't know them."

But Americans are still taking civilian jobs in the Middle East, even as thousands are leaving the region following the deadliest month of kidnappings and attacks since the war in Iraq began.

Halliburton Co. said 33 of its contractors have died in Iraq and Kuwait performing government jobs that ranged from extinguishing oil fires to delivering fuel and food.

Warren worked alongside and became friends with Thomas Hamill, the 43-year-old Macon fuel tanker driver for Halliburton subsidiary KBR. Hamill was abducted when gunmen attacked his convoy April 9.

The bodies of three of Hamill's coworkers were recovered near the ambush site, and on Saturday an Army reservist missing since the ambush, Sgt. Elmer Kruase, was confirmed dead.

Hamill, who was videotaped alive after the ambush, still hasn't been accounted for.

"He was a hard worker," said Warren, now home in Rutherfordton, N.C. "And he was a nice man, someone who went there to make a living. We can only hope he's OK."

The Hamill family has said Thomas Hamill took the job because his dairy farm was near bankruptcy.

Workers can earn up to $120,000 tax free for a year's work, Halliburton said. And for some, even with the kidnappings and violence, it's an offer still too good to refuse.

Glen Trehern, 52, of Gautier said he wants to go to Iraq for the money, to help his country and for the adventure.

His wife, Carolyne, thinks he's having a scary mid-life crisis.

"Before he thought of this, he talked about bungee jumping and skydiving," she said. "Does it worry me that he's going? Yes. But it worries me more that the young ones are thinking about going."

Her son, Terry Trehern, 23, of Houston, Texas, and nephew, Jeff Avery, 37, of Gautier also are considering jobs in Iraq.

They heard about the job openings through a friend who applied.

Glen Trehern, who runs a seafood business and splits his time between Gautier and Houston, already has sent in an application and is awaiting word from a recruiter.

"There are so many dangers everywhere in the world," he said. "I was driving through Houston the other day and saw five car wrecks on the side of the interstate. It may be more dangerous driving the roads here in America than it is over there in Iraq."

By chance, Glen Trehern passed through Macon last week while making a seafood delivery. He knows it's Thomas Hamill's hometown.

"No one has forced any of these civilians to go over there," he said. "We need to remember that. Everyone is going over there because they choose to."

Jennifer Douglass, a spokeswoman for KBR, said the dangers of the job are laid out up front.

"Once a prospective employee submits a resume, they are contacted personally by a recruiter," Douglass said. "One of the main things a recruiter talks to prospective employees about is security. The recruiter's job, in many ways, is to talk the individual out of going. We want them to understand this is a hostile location and a harsh living environment."

Douglass said the company has received more than 100,000 applications over the computer. A recent check of the Halliburton Web site listed more than 500 jobs available in Iraq, including ice plant operators, security coordinators and a pest controller.

Glen Trehern has applied for a job as a truck driver.

"I would almost rather have myself go over there than someone else," he said. "I'm older. I've been married for 30 years. I've had a family. And if I can go over there for a year or so and make some money, then I can come back — if I'm lucky enough to come back — and put it away and live better."

Glen Trehern said he and his wife make about $70,000 a year combined. "We're not hurting. But we can do better," he said.

His son, Terry Trehern, a mechanic, said he needs the money, too. "Plus, I don't have a family, so that makes me feel a little better about it. If I had kids and everything to worry about, it would be different."

Avery, a former Marine, has been married 18 years and has four children between 7 and 17 years old. Avery said his family is used to him being gone because of the four years he spent in the Marines.

"It is a risk that you take, but one that could be very profitable," he said.

Carolyne Trehern, who raised Avery since he was a teenager, said she hopes none of her family goes. "Right now, I'm just thinking maybe they won't go through with it," she said.

There is no way to know how many American civilian workers are in the Middle East, said Kelly Shannon, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Consulate Affairs in Washington.

"We keep track of how many Americans live overseas, which is about 3.5 million. To know how many are working overseas, you would have to contact each company that has workers there, and find out how many workers they have."

Wendy Hall, a spokeswoman for Halliburton, said at any given time the company has more than 700 trucks on Kuwaiti and Iraqi roads. Drivers log roughly 3.3 million miles per month. More than 24,000 Halliburton employees and subcontractors work in the Iraqi-Kuwaiti region, she said.

Drivers like James Warren run 340-mile missions from southern Iraq to north of Baghdad and come back the next day.

"There were towns with narrow streets and people crowding around the vehicles, giving us no escape if violence should happen," he said. "Sometimes, convoys would get hit by homemade bombs."

In one city, the windshield of the truck he was driving was shattered by insurgents throwing rocks.

But it wasn't always that way.

Warren and Hamill trained together in Houston before leaving for Iraq last October. When they first arrived, there was considerably less violence, he said.

"But as the months wore on, the violence increased," he said. "There were bombs hitting convoys every day."

Warren said he worked in Iraq for six months before he was fired. He was accused of running cars off the road, he said.

"Honestly, I'm glad," Warren said. "I don't think I'd want to be there anymore."

From: http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=
/20040425/NEWS01/404250375/1002