Afghanistan Supermodels - Girls gone Wild in Burkas
I have a proverbial shit-ton of patients (ok, maybe not a whole “shit-ton” but at least a few) who seem to be leaving for overseas to fill minor working positions (like loading and unloading merchandise) because they will get paid way more than they do here. These aren’t military personnel nor are they expecting to be in a war zone.
How good can it be that it is now more attractive to leave this country to earn more money?
Its a little ironic since so many U.S. companies either import their merchandise/supplies from foreign countries or outsource certain jobs because it is cheaper there than here in the states.
I’m a proud lurker (2 or 3 posts in several years), so I’ll say my piece and then crawl back in my cave. I’m a Marine and I’ve worked with a sh’load of civilian contractors overseas. I don’t think you can paint the picture in terms of overseas jobs being more ‘attractive’ than domestic jobs. People have been working for years supporting military operations. I will point out three things:
Many of these people are retired or former military (many, not all). It’s a natural chain of events that they stick close to the connections they made while serving. Military service contracts and DOD civilian positions are the easiest to get for people who have been in the military and already know the system
Many of the contractors I knew in Iraq had children in the military and they took jobs with KBR and others partly as a show of solidarity with their children. I remember being surprised at how often I ran across this… I would say this was a factor for 40% of the truckers I worked with in Iraq
Deploying in a civilian capacity as a contractor has tons of perks that are difficult to match regardless of how good the economy is in the US. Contractors get free food, lodging, health care, and entertainment from military providers. They have VERY high salaries (almost without exception in the 6 figure range). And they don’t pay taxes.
Apples and Oranges.
To all my fellow Devil Dogs out there, HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Thanks to the WTO and NAFTA. I saw 25,000 people lose their job in my hometown in Alabama. Seems the textile industry is no longer prevalent in the south. Then they had the nerve to ask the people if they would be willing to take 60,000 a year to travel to India to train the textile workers. That was followed by a mass message of “Go fuck yourself.”
[quote]101airborne wrote:
Thanks to the WTO and NAFTA. I saw 25,000 people lose their job in my hometown in Alabama. Seems the textile industry is no longer prevalent in the south. Then they had the nerve to ask the people if they would be willing to take 60,000 a year to travel to India to train the textile workers. That was followed by a mass message of “Go fuck yourself.”[/quote]
Outsourcing jobs does not equal higher salaries for civilian contractors supporting the military
