This from the Chronicle article is pretty poignant.
But when the economy stagnated, construction work became hard to find. Brown signed up to drive for Halliburton. Such jobs have been known to pay six- figure salaries. Despite the hazards, he doesn't rule out returning for a second tour in Iraq, dismissing the danger.
"One of my neighbors was murdered in Houston last week,'' he said. "It's all up to the Lord.''
So the story makes it sound like either a suicide attempt gone bad, or an insurance scam gone bad. Either way, it's sad, and pretty weird that it wasn't reported until now even though it happened a month ago.
When I was in Amsterdam in 2004 I met a guy who was a contracted truck driver in Iraq. He was on R&R and he was telling me stories. They carry guns, but really have no defense against kidnapping where several people attack the truck. He got paid 8-9 thousand a month but said that it was such dangerous work that he wanted to get out of it ASAP. It was Amsterdam so I wasn't thinking that clearly and his stories kind of freaked me out to the point where I decided to go hang out with someone else. It is a little hard to party when you are going back to Iraq in a few days.
As for why they make more than the troops, it is the market pure and simple. Signing up for the army is very different than signing up for a short period of time driving a truck in Iraq. There are a lot more benefits to the military and essentially no benefits and huge risks to working for Haliburton.
This from the Chronicle article is pretty poignant.
But when the economy stagnated, construction work became hard to find. Brown signed up to drive for Halliburton. Such jobs have been known to pay six- figure salaries. Despite the hazards, he doesn't rule out returning for a second tour in Iraq, dismissing the danger.
"One of my neighbors was murdered in Houston last week,'' he said. "It's all up to the Lord.''
(With that kind of support, who needs opposition...?)
As for yellow ribbons and SUVs ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmsOIjzQ1V8
Hey, that's catchy!
I'm going to go buy a ribbon, then I'm going to go buy an SUV so I can stick the ribbon on my SUV.
As for why they make more than the troops, it is the market pure and simple. Signing up for the army is very different than signing up for a short period of time driving a truck in Iraq. There are a lot more benefits to the military and essentially no benefits and huge risks to working for Haliburton.
Rest in peace, Chris Brown.
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