4 ms·

As long as it'd be safe, I'd go for it without hesitation. New place, fun work, big accomplishment, lots of money and free time? I'm not sure what down side y

As long as it'd be safe, I'd go for it without hesitation. New place, fun work, big accomplishment, lots of money and free time? I'm not sure what down side you see, but it would need to be huge to turn this down.

spoiledtechie 17y ago
my mind says yes, but my body says stay the fuck away, I dont wanna die. So the question still remains and I definitely am looking for advice.
- dantheman 17y ago
  Where are you going? How safe is it? What type of insurance do you get. What would happen if in the worst case you lost your leg or arm? Do you have family to support/be away from. If your a single guy going to relatively safe spot I'd say go for it.
  - blasdel 17y ago
    The US Government pays generous Worker's Compensation insurance premiums (mostly to AIG) for all overseas defense contractor employees under the terms of a WWII-era bill: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Base_Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Base_Act
- Zev 17y ago
  Doesn't DC have one of the highest murder rates in the country? Whats to stop you from getting shot or into a bad car accident in Washington D.C.? Point is, theres always going to be a risk, regardless of where you happen to live. Might as well go somewhere interesting (and make a good bit of $ while you're at it, in this case).
  - blasdel 17y ago
    I'm a DC native, born and raised. For starters, almost all that violence is between subsistence drug dealers in areas of the city and PG County where the poster is unlikely to even drive through. It doesn't involve the yuppies at all, and it's a fraction of what it was in the mid nineties before gentrification kicked into overdrive. Furthermore, he said he was in "Washington DC area", which is code for the wealthy suburbs where the vast majority of the population lives. Most work there too: the only jobs in DC proper are in NGOs, lobbying, civil service, and the service jobs to support them.
    - spoiledtechie 17y ago
      live in the fairfax area...
- fname 17y ago
  Iraq is a lot safer than it was a few years ago. I don't think you would have much to worry about from a safety perspective. Just curious, if you accepted, would you have to go through the State Department training and carry a weapon?
- evgen 17y ago
  One thing to consider is whether or not you are rationally evaluating the safety of the situation. We are not privy to the details, but you should keep in mind the fact that most of the new you will get about that particular location is "news" because it is basically bad news. Like airline travel, you don't hear the "person gets on plane, has boring trip, gets off plane" stories but instead only notice the events that end up killing people. I would suggest you try to get as much information as you can about the reality of your potential situation over there and then compare it to the violent crime rate in your current location. Once you have established some baseline facts you will be in a much better position to decide if the experience/money is worth any additional risk that might be involved.
- jacoblyles 17y ago
  If that's your primary concern, then let's get some hard information on the security situation. I heard American deaths were way down, which means even less for the techies off the front lines. There were 149 American deaths in Iraq last year, but I think that might mean just soldiers. So about one out of every thousand soldiers. http://www.icasualties.org/Iraq/index.aspx http://www.icasualties.org/Iraq/index.aspx Also, there were 676 wounded, or about 4 out of every thousand. So 0.5% of the total force was killed or wounded. You could dig around for more exact numbers, but 1 out of 200 is a good first approximation for the injury/death rate of American forces in Iraq.

spoiledtechie 17y ago

my mind says yes, but my body says stay the fuck away, I dont wanna die. So the question still remains and I definitely am looking for advice.

dantheman 17y ago
Where are you going? How safe is it? What type of insurance do you get. What would happen if in the worst case you lost your leg or arm? Do you have family to support/be away from. If your a single guy going to relatively safe spot I'd say go for it.
- blasdel 17y ago
  The US Government pays generous Worker's Compensation insurance premiums (mostly to AIG) for all overseas defense contractor employees under the terms of a WWII-era bill: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Base_Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Base_Act
Zev 17y ago
Doesn't DC have one of the highest murder rates in the country? Whats to stop you from getting shot or into a bad car accident in Washington D.C.? Point is, theres always going to be a risk, regardless of where you happen to live. Might as well go somewhere interesting (and make a good bit of $ while you're at it, in this case).
- blasdel 17y ago
  I'm a DC native, born and raised. For starters, almost all that violence is between subsistence drug dealers in areas of the city and PG County where the poster is unlikely to even drive through. It doesn't involve the yuppies at all, and it's a fraction of what it was in the mid nineties before gentrification kicked into overdrive. Furthermore, he said he was in "Washington DC area", which is code for the wealthy suburbs where the vast majority of the population lives. Most work there too: the only jobs in DC proper are in NGOs, lobbying, civil service, and the service jobs to support them.
  - spoiledtechie 17y ago
    live in the fairfax area...
fname 17y ago
Iraq is a lot safer than it was a few years ago. I don't think you would have much to worry about from a safety perspective. Just curious, if you accepted, would you have to go through the State Department training and carry a weapon?
evgen 17y ago
One thing to consider is whether or not you are rationally evaluating the safety of the situation. We are not privy to the details, but you should keep in mind the fact that most of the new you will get about that particular location is "news" because it is basically bad news. Like airline travel, you don't hear the "person gets on plane, has boring trip, gets off plane" stories but instead only notice the events that end up killing people. I would suggest you try to get as much information as you can about the reality of your potential situation over there and then compare it to the violent crime rate in your current location. Once you have established some baseline facts you will be in a much better position to decide if the experience/money is worth any additional risk that might be involved.
jacoblyles 17y ago
If that's your primary concern, then let's get some hard information on the security situation. I heard American deaths were way down, which means even less for the techies off the front lines. There were 149 American deaths in Iraq last year, but I think that might mean just soldiers. So about one out of every thousand soldiers. http://www.icasualties.org/Iraq/index.aspx http://www.icasualties.org/Iraq/index.aspx Also, there were 676 wounded, or about 4 out of every thousand. So 0.5% of the total force was killed or wounded. You could dig around for more exact numbers, but 1 out of 200 is a good first approximation for the injury/death rate of American forces in Iraq.