Piece of advice for the turds that argue with me: You can't go wrong by assuming the best case scenario about me. You'll land closer to the truth. You set yourself up for failure by assuming the worst case scenario about me. You definitely put your credibility on the chopping block when you do... as you're guaranteed to make the wrong assumption.
"Speaking of people who risk life and limb in war zones, thebesig might want to read this article on third country nationals hired by shady US contractors, poor foreigners who are duped into what is essentially indentured servitude. Those people would probably trade places with thebesig in a heartbeat. Thebesig got it pretty damn good in life by comparison." -- CACAmacho
WRONG!
Unlike you, dumbass, I've interacted with those people. Now sit back, relax, and watch me rub your face into your own stupidity.
It helps to pull your head out of your arse and to know the opposition before disbursing your caca... ahem opinion... about anything concerning the person you're talking about. It also helps to have first hand experience with all the topics that you refer to in that one turd drivel.
Based on your caca... ahem opinion piece... that you just crapped out, it's blatantly obvious that you've never been downrange. It's also blatantly obvious that you've never lived in a third world country. If you have, don't admit it... you'll only make yourself look worse.
I read the article, and it didn't tell me anything that I didn't know. It did; however, contain propaganda that simply wasn't true.
It was plainly obvious that the guy that took my ACUs in for cleaning was from India. It was plainly obvious that the guy working at the Green Beans Coffee Shop was from Pakistan... same with the guy working in the Subway concession stand. It was obvious that those working the fuel stations, in the DFAC, etc, were from Asian countries.
Well, most of them were. Others came from Eastern Europe. Most the FOB guards were mostly from Africa.
I have it good in life compared to them? Really? You're basing that on... what? Third hand information and a 20 second sound byte from someone that never set foot downrange?
Let's compare and contrast those third world nationals' lives with that of a combat soldier downrange.
The people that your article talked about were restricted to the major Forward Operating Bases, as well as to the Contingency Operating Bases. They were nowhere to be found in the combat outposts, where you would've found my unit, and me.
Now, had you been there, a qualification you'd need to have a leg to stand on in this topic, you would've seen a difference.
Tell a Soldier that he's going to go on a refit trip to one of these FOBs/COPs, and you'll make that Soldier's day. Why? FOBs/COPs were paradise compared to the outlaying combat outposts/patrol bases.
At the combat outposts we were at, we didn't have a DFAC that cooked decent meals. We didn't have a bunch of food type selections, "unlimited" water for showering, ready access to a shopping center, bazaars, movie theaters, massage parlors, etc.
Compared to your third world nationals, we lived in the most Spartan conditions. They lived far better than we did...
Unlike us, those "poor souls" were authorized to drink alcoholic beverages. Those "poor souls" had TVs in the rooms with multiple channels... those antennas over their hooches were a big giveaway. They had the option of swimming in the FOB's outdoor pools... well, many of them should've taken advantage given their body order.
Poor souls, how dare we torture them by giving them rooms with carpeting, microwaves and refrigerators? How dare we restrict them by not requiring them to travel in battle buddy pairs! Allowing them to wear comfortable civilian clothing in the brutal heat must be torture! Ohh the inhumanity! How dare we allow them comfortable buses, mini buses, and super SUVs as their public transportation?
Guess what, Cacamacho, I've talked to these people. They DID NOT want to do what we were doing. They DID NOT want to assume our risks, or our duties.
Heck, putting submarine sandwiches together at Subway would've been relaxing compared to what we did. No troop leading procedures, no sensitive items to track and test, no armor to wear as part of the uniform... no sectors to scan...
In fact, you'd be safer in those FOBs than in many parts of the US. Those FOBs were the safest places for foreign nationals, and everybody else, to be in. They were also the most comfortable places to be at.
Compared to their countrymen, they were making a financial killing. They were doing far better, salary wise, than their counterparts who decided to stay in their home country. They were getting paid more even than most their countrymen who were working for foreign companies.
Why? One reason was that KBR et all had to up their monetary incentives to get these guys to come to a combat zone. But, even after they upped the offered salary, these guys didn't cost as much as their commercial American counterparts, many who where making 6 figures for 12 months of being there.
Many of the guys that I talked to, who fit the people your article talks about, were there for YEARS when they only had to do a year. They were there by CHOICE, not force.
Even the Ugandan guards had it better than us. Yes, they faced risk defending the base perimeter, but it wasn't as great as that as the Air Ground Base Defense Airmen who secured the area immediately beyond the base perimeter... and definitely not as great as those of us who operated out of combat outposts in the country side.
The article erroneously claimed that these people were "tricked" and got subjected to bait and switch. WRONG. I don't know where that propagandist got her information. The Asians that I talked to spoke English, and knew what they were getting into prior to coming to the theater.
Like I said earlier, many were there for multiple years, by choice.
Many of those workers were from the Philippines. They wouldn't think twice about taking up an arduous job, with family separation, to make more money than what they'd make in the Philippines.
No "sheet" Sherlock, they were going to remain in the FOBs. That's where most service members, government employees and contractors stayed. With people out in town that'd kill you on the drop of a dime, you'd want to stay inside the FOB too. Most of these foreign nationals didn't want to go out in sector either.
Bringing foreign nationals in from Asia and Europe saved us from bringing potential double's in from the host nation... you know... like the hadjis that ran concession stands during the day time, then lobbed mortars on that same base at night.
Oh! But wait! You might exclaim, what about the fact that these guys live in 3rd world countries! What do you say to that Writer Cubed/thebesig?
You lose even with that approach. I spent 5 years living in a 3rd world country before. I lived in environments that ranged from the bare basic...
I know what it's like living without an electricity or plumbing infrastructure... with air conditioning consisting of whatever wind come trough the floors, doors and window... with bathing involving well pump operations... with cooking involving setting a pot over three or four rocks on the ground... living in a shelter with a design in use since the pre-historic times...
...to favela like environment that makes American slums look like brand new upper middle class Las Vegas neighborhoods.
Both of those conditions are better than the conditions we live in during our FTXs on US soil.
Those third world nationals definitely lived in better conditions... back in their home countries in the 21st Century... than what I experienced sometime in the 20th Century. If you weren't ignorant of events that took place in the real world, beyond your local Walmart, you'd realize that much of Asia has progressed rapidly since the late 1970s/early 1980s.
That rate of development started to accelerate exponentially prior to the end of the decade ending in 2010.
Shake the image that the propagandist successfully planted into your head. With her "meager chow halls" comment, it's blatantly obvious that she didn't personally go to any of the FOBs downrange. If she did, she would've discovered that the food offered rivaled, and sometimes surpassed, food that you'd eat in a decent American restaurant.
Those were things we didn't have in the outlaying patrol bases, where we had MREs or Field prepared meals. Our best bet were home cooked local national food from homes outside the outpost.
Piece of advice: Know the facts about the person that you're talking about... so that you don't come across as a complete, ignorant, dumbarse retard with his head shoved so far up his arse he needs a glass belly button to see.
It also helps if you had first hand experience with what you're talking about.
But wait! There's more!
None of those third world nationals would trade their air conditioning, indoor plumbing, electricity, etc, at their home countries, for the conditions that we have to endure when we're out in the field here in the US.
If you were to choose living conditions... with bare field issue out in the field, against what someone has in a third world country, you'd chose the 3rd world living conditions in a heartbeat. Nobody living in a third world country would trade what they have for something that we have while out in the field. Not by a long shot.
I recently spent time in a third world Asian country. None of the people that I saw there subjected themselves to the same conditions we subjected ourselves out in the field here in the US.
When there are many ways to show you how your assumptions are wrong, it's time for you to re-evaluate your opinion and to bring it closer to reality.
