I was wondering if anyone else know someone doing this, and what if anything could they ship back from Iraq? I was thinking some military surplus items would be cool, maybe some spare rifle parts???Does anyone know what if anything can be shipped back? Thanks in advance.

nobody knows huh? BTT

No weapons can be sent back.

And I hope your friend is extremely lucky or is not on major supply routes.


Also, no civilian working for KBR/Haliburton can carry weapons.  Not even KBR security has weapons.

You couldn't pay me to drive a truck for KBR in Iraq.  I'm getting ready to go back there on another contract but it definitely won't be for KBR.  As he said, even KBR security only carry radios!  

Fuck That!

I'm not sure who he's working for...will find out and repost....what can be shipped back? I'm not sure why he's going other than the money is really good...he's not ex-military or anything....Personally I think he's nuts, but some one's got to do it, and the way I see it, if he wants to go, it's his funeral. So no-one driving those trucks as a civilian can carry....what about a locally purchased weapon? I'm not sure I could handle not having a weapon. Thanks for the responses so far...keep 'em coming!

I haven't heard about those truck drivers being killed lately, have they got better at protecting them or have they just stopped reporting it?

Your friend can't send anything back from Iraq.
Your friend can't carry any firearm.  PERIOD.  That includes local stuff.
Your friend is nuts.  I hope they are paying him a pile of money.

Quoted: Your friend is nuts.  I hope they are paying him a pile of money.

+1

Talk to me about the money when they send his body back to his mother with no head, FTS. Can't be armed in a war zone, how stupid.

I inquired about this once.. Now I get calls every other month.

" hello"
"hi this is BOB, from KBR......"
Can I bring my sidearms yet?"
"no"
"FU"
click.....

He'll make around 85 thou in 11 months.
He works 16 hour days for 4 weeks and one week R&R
For 1 year. Cannot work 11 months and take 30 days off.
Can only go back after 1 month off in states.
I told the guy the first time " I dont EVEN drive a truck in the states without atleast 2 sidearms, why would i go into a battle zone emty handed? Dumbass!"

Good Luck to him.

Quoted: Your friend can't send anything back from Iraq. Your friend can't carry any firearm.  PERIOD.  That includes local stuff. Your friend is nuts.  I hope they are paying him a pile of money.

Fuck That!!!

Is the no fire arm rule a KBR rule a Iraq rule or a US military rule?

Quoted: Is the no fire arm rule a KBR rule a Iraq rule or a US military rule?

Both KBR and Iraqi.
KBR doesn't allow drivers carrying firearms.
Iraqi rule forbids carrying of weapon by foreigh civilians that are not there on security detail.
I don't think US Military really have any say about this as they prefer nobody has weapons except the military.
 

He's fucking crazy.    But if he's gonna do it, can you persuade him to buy some soft armor and rifle plates at least?!

Quoted: He's fucking crazy.    But if he's gonna do it, can you persuade him to buy some soft armor and rifle plates at least?!

He'll get IBA.

Anyone familiar with any of the IT jobs listed on the site?

OK....so he can't send anything back.....can he bring items back in his baggage? What i'm wondering is this: I understand it's pretty easy to get body armor, PASGT helmets, AK bayonets, etc....small army surplus type items there which are hard to find cheaply over here...If he can dodge bullets for 11 months and by some miricle come back with his ass intact, will he be able to bring shit like that home? I was hoping he could find some class II body armor, a couple of Battle packs, maybe some load bearing vests...all the shit airsofters are looking for, I was planning on setting myself up with an entire SHTF senario survival kit. If he can set me up for next to nothing, I would be waiting for him to return to get these items, rather than purchasing them here where the prices are quite incredible for this stuff...Hopefully this will clarify some of my intentions here. And BTW, I do think he's nuts for doing this, at least if he can get some of these items back stateside there is a silver lining there somewhere. He survives, and I get a shitload of cool gear cheap!! Win-Win Right?!? Anyways, If some of you in the know could let me know if he can get this stuff back or not, I'll know wether to ask him or not....Thanks in advance for the help. Cheers!

Quoted: Your friend can't send anything back from Iraq. Your friend can't carry any firearm.  PERIOD.  That includes local stuff. Your friend is nuts.  I hope they are paying him a pile of money.

+1  I'm sure the brochure proclaims he will be completely safe and will have armed guards but when he gets there he'll find out that it is a local security guard with just a beat up .38 who sleeps most of the day if/when he is on duty.

Quoted: I'm not sure who he's working for...will find out and repost....what can be shipped back? I'm not sure why he's going other than the money is really good...he's not ex-military or anything....Personally I think he's nuts, but some one's got to do it, and the way I see it, if he wants to go, it's his funeral. So no-one driving those trucks as a civilian can carry....what about a locally purchased weapon? I'm not sure I could handle not having a weapon. Thanks for the responses so far...keep 'em coming!

This kind of thinking cracks me up. WHAT EXACTLY do you think you are going to shoot when an IED blows your truck up? Even if your truck was attacked by gunfire, You wont be shooting back even if you THINK you had the chance and thats even if you can see who is shooting at you.

Weapon allocation is not really a matter for the Iraqis, it is determined by your company and that is pretty much it.  Your company has to make the arrangements with DoD/Army that you will be allowed to carry firearms.  Not  just PSD carry weapons.  Virtually everyone is armed with at least a sidearm except for KBR and some select positions.  I just love the FBI chicks with the thigh holsters too :)

KBR pays shit and will work their guys every day of the week with no time off.  But they do tend to provide them nicer accomodatiosn vs the rest of us  (they started crowding us up in housing trailers while their people all had one man rooms).

Truck driving in Iraq is not a popular occupationand they hire tons of TCN's for cheap to fill these roles.  Supply trucks are favorite targets for ambushes.  The trucks are lightly armored but all teh good that does against an IED.  Tell your friend to pay attention in his IED briefing at CRC, oops, KBR doesn't send their guys to CRC!  They do their own training :(

There really is not any good shopping there to do, so sending anything back is not a issue.  He won't be able to ship any firearms he may come across, if any.  He can get some POS old K bayonets, those are widely available.  Hadji shops suck BTW.  Iraqis learn capitolism very well and will rip you off every bit they can if you let them.

This kind of thinking cracks me up. WHAT EXACTLY do you think you are going to shoot when an IED blows your truck up? Even if your truck was attacked by gunfire, You wont be shooting back even if you THINK you had the chance and thats even if you can see who is shooting at you.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          At least if you were fixing to be kidnapped you could shoot a couple of the fuckers before they got into the cab of the truck.....or something...anything other than getting kidnapped and beheaded on al-jazeera would be good. I would think just having the weapon would give you a little peace of mind, and that would be reason enough to have one.And this kind of thinking doesn't crack me up....in reality it's pretty serious shit we're talking about here, and I fail to see any humor in it. I guess if what I posted was completely ignorant, I need to be educated about when and why I was wrong, but not riticuled for saying what I did.In fact, that's the reason I have asked the questions I have because I didn't know the answers. Does that crack you up?

Quoted: I inquired about this once.. Now I get calls every other month. " hello" "hi this is BOB, from KBR......" Can I bring my sidearms yet?" "no" "FU" click..... He'll make around 85 thou in 11 months. He works 16 hour days for 4 weeks and one week R&R For 1 year. Cannot work 11 months and take 30 days off. Can only go back after 1 month off in states. I told the guy the first time " I dont EVEN drive a truck in the states without atleast 2 sidearms, why would i go into a battle zone emty handed? Dumbass!"

While I was never brave enough to carry a gun in my truck, I wish I had in some places, like Long Beach and Trenton, NJ (I have never seen a bigger bunch of crackheads and trashy places than in Trenton).  They couldn't convince me that it was worth going in without a weapon until they got into the 9-digit figure range...

God help you if DOT found those guns though.  Good luck.

Quoted: Anyone familiar with any of the IT jobs listed on the site?

Don't know much other than here there are tons of IT folks in Bagram, and a couple at each FOB maintaining the networks.... but most of the IT guys here work for ITT.

A security clearance is needed for 70-80%  of the positions.

Quoted: I inquired about this once.. Now I get calls every other month. " hello" "hi this is BOB, from KBR......" Can I bring my sidearms yet?" "no" "FU" click..... He'll make around 85 thou in 11 months. He works 16 hour days for 4 weeks and one week R&R For 1 year. Cannot work 11 months and take 30 days off. Can only go back after 1 month off in states. I told the guy the first time " I dont EVEN drive a truck in the states without atleast 2 sidearms, why would i go into a battle zone emty handed? Dumbass!"

85K in 11 months? Hell, I make 3/4 of that running US interstates

Hell, KBR pays the guys who drive the shuttle bus on Bagarm 85K and they never leave little America there.

trgams,

So, let me get this straight, you want your friend to spend a year doing an insanely dangerous job just so he can have the opportunity to bring you back cheap surplus?

NOT gonna happen. As others have explained KBR is not allowed to carry firearms. Furthermore he will never have an opportunity to buy one. Just to educate some of you, the only time you are allowed out of the wire is while conducting convoy operations. So, his chance of being off  in an unsecure area by himself to "shop" or possibly get Hi-jacked is nill. As for being armed, he wouldn't have the chance to use it during an ambush as he will be busy DRIVING. Plus as others have said, he'll never see the IED until it goes off.

Security for KBR or TCN convoys is provided by the military Gun Trucks that escort them. They consist of a crew dedicated to navigating, communicating and shooting if the need arises, with systems more lethal than any truck driver with a pistol or AK could hope to do while driving. I know, that's what we do here.

Given that, I wouldn't take a KBR driving job in Iraq on a bet, it's just to dangerous. Sometimes KBR drives armored military vehicles, but for the most part they drive commercial trucks with little or no armor and routinely haul fuel. These two factors make them prime targets and I've personnally seen a KBR tanker (U.S. driver) become charcol when his tanker was hit by a very large IED during an ambush. Don't think a sidearm would have made any difference. Niether did the Kevlar and body armor they gave him.

Wpns Man

A close family friend is driving a truck for KBR right now. He is getting a little over 100K per year. He is doing convoy stuff all over the country. His last email to me stated that he was driving a Volvo truck with kevlar panels, and kevlar curtains etc...IED proof it ain't.

To his credit, he is an ex-Ranger, 2nd batt Captain, went SF reserve [11th GRP] back in the seventies. He is a tough, smart, motivated dude. Won't help him much if he gets IED'd or RPG'd, though.

I tried to talk him into PSD type stuff, but he has been out of the loop too long [no connections], his back and knees are shot [he was HALO and HAHO qual'd] etc.

Under the right circumstances [i.e. lots of debt, he and the wife weren't getting along, has a metric ton of balls, etc] it looked good to him...he is working his ass off, though.  

A pistiol would give me the peace of mind that I would die shooting it out with the bastards rather than die by torture or something just as bad (if my convoy was ever attacked). I would need a firearm to be over there.

OK...let me set the record straight...I DON'T want him to go to Iraq...He's going on his own accord, Personally I think he's nuts for going, BUT If he is going anyway, I was just thinking it might be cool to see if he could ship some shit back...apparantly he cannot, which makes alot of sense really... I would like to thank the guys who are there and who intend to do the terribly dangerous job of transport over there in Iraq...and those who protect them, and I certainly hope all of them get home in one piece.....like I said earlier, someone's got to do it. I'll say a prayer every once in a while for him and them. Thanks alot for the straight answers too...

If he is going to be a driver, make sure he tries for a position that is limited to on camp.  Driving the shuttle bus to the PX may not be cool but it pays the same and IED's on base...hopefully :)

Even armed guys up against small arms fire can get killed.

I watched a terrorist-filmed video the other day of two contractors getting jumped in traffic and killed. The end of it was the terrorists pulling the rifles out of the car before it burned. It didn't look like those guys even came close to getting a shot off.