It's like being a net admin back stateside, but with less bandwidth and more sand. The shifts are longer, and the lifestyle outside of work is certainly different, but the work itself is mostly the same as in stateside military-centric positions.
You also operate in a more hazard-prone environment. Aside from the normal dangers associated with a war zone, there are less obvious issues. For example, equipment maintenance is more difficult in harsh conditions, and there's no luxury of overnight RMA shipping. You learn to make due with what you have at your disposal (like I said, it's not all that different out here).
I don't discuss my salary for lots of little reasons, but it's not too difficult to find job listings with the going rate. Suffice it to say my income is significantly higher now than it was as an E-4 in the US Air Force.
I also tend not to disclose my employer to strangers, largely because I don't want to be associated with the company if a fellow employee does something stupid. This has happened a lot with companies like KBR. However, it is ridiculously easy to find out who I work for if you're curious.
This paper is being published close to my one-year mark, but I recently opted to renew my contract for another twelve months. Beyond that I can't say for certain; I'm leaning toward heading back to the US in 2009.
Sure, who isn't? We're all mortal.
Why? Because CNN says so? It's funny how many people who've never set foot in this hemisphere have no problem informing me how much danger I'm in. Before moving out here, I lived in Las Vegas, Nevada for three years. This will sound like hyperbole, but I honestly feel safer out here than I did in Vegas. At least out here there's no traffic and no drunk drivers, and you can generally tell who might be likely to kill you. I also never work outside of the camp's secured perimeter.
Yes, there's obviously a legitimate threat. Many threats, in fact, and not all are symptoms of combat; operating in a deployed environment always carries significant safety risks. But that's why you exercise common sense and make calculated decisions. And, fortunately, I spend most of my time inside a hardened structure anyway, tucked in with the infrastructure I support.
Not great, not horrible. Living conditions vary widely even between units on the same base, and I can only share my own experience. I room with two fellow contractors in a decent-sized room, no bunk-beds. I work out of a small make-shift server room with a make-shift desk, but it suffices. Most of the buildings are thick concrete, leftover from when the Iraqis built this small camp in the eighties. Others are plywood, constructed by military civil engineers. Everything not already hardened is surrounded with large barriers of earth or concrete.
Latrine and shower facilities are provided in modular trailers with running water and all that, plus there are numerous portajohns scattered about for convenience. The camp has a well-run dining facility which is open for four meals a day; some larger bases also have AAFES-operated franchise restaurants like Burger King or Subway. We also have a small PX (post exchange) which sells toiletries, field gear, movies, junk food, etc.
Yes, life in Iraq can be quite monotonous. Aside from work, I spend most of my time studying, maintaining PacketLife, and generally browsing the Internet. There is DoD-sponsored satellite TV available with several channels of regular stateside programming, but I've never been much of a TV fan. I also sometimes manage to pass a good portion of the day sleeping.
GMT+3 all year; the Iraqi government has decided not to observe daylight savings time.
I chip in with about a dozen other people for a commercial satellite Internet connection at roughly 1024Kbps down and 256Kbps up. Obviously not a huge pipe, but it suffices for most uses. The first hop round-trip delay is roughly 600ms.
Support personnel like myself typically only wear body armor during transit (which is usually by aircraft), but certain other conditions may warrant it for short periods.
Support contractors are some of the few people who don't carry a weapon out here, which I am thankful for. A lot of people tell me they'd much rather have to carry a weapon. What many of these people fail to realize is that you must always have your weapon with you, and after some time this can get very, very annoying.
That's not a question, and I honestly could care less.
Also not a question, and again, I'm not interested. I'm not a politician, I'm a network engineer. I was presented with the opportunity to make an impressive salary at 21 years of age doing a job I love, and I took it.
Initially I was put in touch with a company recruiter by a friend of a friend (it is, after all, who you know) while still in the Air Force. Rather than detail the entire process in this FAQ, I invite you to read through Deployed, a blog I kept while transitioning to the civilian side and getting settled out here.
Only you can get you a job. In the past I've offered to put people seeking employment out here in contact with a recruiter for my company, but I've since stopped, for a number of reasons. Of course there are plenty of job postings through normal channels if you're interested.
I wouldn't recommend work in the Middle East to anyone without prior military service, or anyone with a family or relationship. And of course, please don't consider the experience I've shared to be in any way indicative of what yours could be like.
Still have questions?
Let me know and I'll do my best to answer them.