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let me ask how long the quarterly leave is.  

let me make sure it's $12k euros + housing, transpo, per diem, prostitutes, beer, cigarettes, tacos, etc.

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Assuming the company is on the up and up and your conversations give you the warm and fuzzies, I’d seriously entertain that then.  I don’t know how much you make currently and how much you could make in an equivalent job here in the states, but sounds good to me.  I’d have to think, making that much money there would have you pretty high up in the food chain to afford almost anything you’d want.  For me personally, I’d live on the cheap as much as I could and save that money for when you get tired and want to come home.  

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Doesn't really count as country knowledge, but I spent four months at Karshi-Khanabad...never went outside a circle about 1000 yards in diameter.

.Mil was concerned enough about the Muslim enclave down the road that we went armed until a couple of AF NDs and an Army suicide convinced them to pull all the weapons back into the armory. We were also under GO-1 (no alcohol), but a lot of the guys were buying beer from the local nationals. It made almost everyone that drank it deathly ill the next day.

All I got.

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Roads are shit, we shipped a bunch of equipment there, some ended up destroyed.   They just have no infrastructure.  Don't plan on an easy job.

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yessir.  all living expenses covered plus local taxes.

i'm on the hook for merican federal taxes and MT taxes, of course.  

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There is an excellent local medical and dental clinic for basic stuff, he definitely wants to toe into it. For more serious surgeries or what have you, he'll want to have a plan to fly elsewhere.

Legal anywhere can be tricky, and it's often hard to get a good assessment as people will weave their own narrative and deny any culpability. Somehow, despite the obvious role westerners play in prostitution, human trafficking, and drug trade, you never seem to be able to find one who was actually guilty, all were innocent angels railroaded by a system.

I know of one American an who had issues over prescription narcotics, it took a while to get that resolved, but it was resolved. Most of the other issues have been human rights protester types. Few on this board will have much sympathy for them. It's usually a "Muh Muslim dindu nuthin'" issue.

It's not a country whose legal system you want to experience from the inside. If that's a concern, you're pretty much limited to Scandinavia.

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Caught up on the thread pay seems about right. It's been a few years since I've worked out of the country.  You should be able to work tax free and that's where the real benefit is.

From my experiences as an expat CM:
Expect to work long hours with few days off
The skilled labor probably won't be skilled
Forget about any concept of schedule that would apply here.

If you're only getting 3-4 trips home a year it should be in first class.

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If memory serves...Ewan Mcgregor passed through there on his bmw in "the long way round"...might give a tiny bit of insight

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It is highly dependent on work you work for and how you are paid. Are you living on the economy? I was @ Karshi K2 for a while. Flew commercial from Baghdad. There was live stock on the plane; chickens, goats, sheep The plane looked like it was held together with duct tape. Everyone clapped when it landed which is sort of a tradition in Eastern Europe but I think people were truly thankful it landed safely.

A buddy of mine loved the place. He lived on the economy and was given a nice per diem to compensate. He was a player and liked live sex clubs and doing generally degenerate things and there were plenty of sketchy shit to get into. He said when he went out he paid a taxi driver for the night and he would take him to only "the best" clubs. He also told me there were clubs that were to be avoided at all costs. Eventually the govt collapsed and all contractors were shuttled out to Dubai. When i arrived we stayed at a hotel initially but were not allowed to leave, then we took a shuttle to K2 and never saw the outside again. We were flown out .mil from K2.

At the time 2003ish, it was pretty cheap from what I was told. Weather was cold as hell as to be expected. It was heavy Russian/Mongol population fairly poor. I had to work with some soldiers and they were rough, undisciplined, and under paid. Having gold teeth was a sign of wealth, and poor dental health. The young women could be very beautiful. However if you had spent much time in eastern Europe you would know that at about 30 their looks go downhill fast. I knew a guy who married one, we all told him it was a mistake, but he wasn't an attractive guy and she was smoking so he wouldn't back down.I know he had to travel to Tashkent to do some embassy stuff, then he took her entire family out to some place on the Adriatic Sea. I think he went home broke, I know he came back to AFG once again when I was there, then had to leave with no notice which got him blackballed.

As I was leaving the Air Force got word to shut the camp down. They had just built and opened a big ass gym two weeks prior and began to ship out all the equipment.

Take a hard look at your contract and make sure you get the per diem rate if you are living on the economy. If you are working for kinfolk, brothers, and relatives you should be okay.

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I spent a lot of time working in Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, and a short stint in Uzbekistan.

I would see if it's a US based company like KBR, Fluor, IAP Worldwide, Dyncorp, etc. you'd be working for. If not i'd pass. If not you could easily get fucked out of a lot of money. Anything involving local companies and banks was always a fucking debacle with a lot of graft and corruption.

Most of the 'stans I consider "2nd world countries". They were fairly modernized under USSR but when it collapsed everything has slowly went to shit as far as infrastructure goes. Everything is very corrupt from the politicians to the companies, especially if it comes to getting bigger contracts. When I would go out in Kyrgyzstan I wouldn't bring my passport. I would keep some extra cash for the cops though. They would pull you over band basically want a bribe or they'd fuck your shit up. In the mid-2000s this bribe only came out to about a dollar so it's not like they were really putting the screws on you. There's a lot of drug trafficking and terrorism pass through in the 'stans as well. If you have any medical requirements make sure you bring your meds with you as you might not get what you need locally.

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I went on a few dates with an Uzbek girl when I was younger, and at the time, socially inept.  She was pretty mellow and insanely fucking hot.  If only I had a clue at the time.

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Climate is a lot like AZ.  

All of the shitty cultural traits of Russians + Muslims.  

The women are insanely hot.  Do not get attached.  They take the master of deception thing to a whole new level.  All of them can be bought and are looking for a way out.

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Interesting topic OP.

I'm also a CM and have been looking hard at leaving here for some overseas work. I don't have any kids and I'm fucking bored with heavy civil work here in the states.

Generally what industry are you in?

Energy? Industrial?

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Is the net pay in addition to housing, or is housing subtracted from the 12,000?

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Picked up my harem manager there. She was about to be married off to a local official so she was happy to come to work for me instead. Amazingly hot female taught from birth to please a man too.

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so, uh, what does a harem manger do after you import one to merica?

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exactly.  no living expenses but i'm still on the hook for merican taxes (federal, SS/medicare, MT state, etc).

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If you end up going, first thing when you get there is find out where the American Embassy is and put them on your cell phone speed dial.