firefighteing in iraq

[woodman107]

i'm scheduled to deart for houston june 20th and leave for iraq on june 24th my question to anybody who can answer is what is it like over there now and please no b.s. i have ben reading this forum a long time and the may complaint is the lack of a paystubb and the lack of equipment i would realy like know the truth about what to expect. also what about the physical challenge i'm 51 years old and retireing from my dept in order to go over to iraq. i was told that they never have sent anybody home from houston. still i don't care who you are 2 minutes of push ups is strong!. how much wheight do they put on the physical challange. any help whould be greatly appreciated.

[tbordelone4]

Hi Woodman

If you have patients, an open mind and are willing to relocate at the drop of a hat, its not that bad. All the junk you read about the hours being cut, if you dont have gear. If you work 5-16s That comes up to $90,000. So I dont know what all the fuss is about. Alot of the guys here are great, some are a little anxious when a call come in, but all you have to do calm them down. As for the physical agillity in Huston. Nothing to it. You just have to do as many push ups & sit ups you can in two mins. Pick the smallest guy in your group to do the firemans carry, and you just have to run a little bit. The weather her is hot, which is expected. There is alot of b.s. that comes from HQ in Baghdad, but like I said have an open mind. $90,000 is alot of money just to put up with a little b.s. If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask, and I will answere them to the best of my knowledge. If I dont know ill try to find out. I hope this helps. Good luck and have a safe trip.

[macdaddy52]

Woodman 107 Just wanted to let you know that you are not the only 50 something fixin to retire, thinking about Iraq. Sounds like you've already made up your mind. I will be in Panama scouting out retirement locations the weeks of June 6 thru 22. After I get back I will start getting serious about what it takes to get over there. The life that I've read about on the thread doesn't seem that different after being in the military and a career in the fire service. I feel as if I can put up with just about any thing for a year. I tend to let things roll off. I would like to visit more E-Mail me or PM.

[FFErik522]

I am due to have my interview this week sometime and hopefully be in Houston by July or early August. Any information (good information) that anybody can give me and my wife about living in country would be great.

[longandstrong]

Long Strong here,

Are you going to Iraq as a firefighter for $90,000 a year or am i mis-reading something? Curious why anyone would go to Iraq for $90,000. I know a friend who is doing a 6 month tour - contracted out by the government to do some training - and he is getting paid $250,000. Granted - not firefighting but is the pay worth it?

If you do go - stay safe. I don't want to see any more heads being lopped off on ogrish.com

Take care.

[tbordelone4]

Please tell me where I can go and make $250,000 for 6 months. I have never heard of anybody making that kindof money in that short amount of time over here.