Halliburton: Missing Truck Driver From Galveston Died In Iraq

[leftchick]

HOUSTON -- The Galveston family of a Halliburton truck driver working in Iraq receives news they had been dreading for more than six months.

A body found in Iraq has been identified as a Halliburton truck driver who had been missing since April 2004.

Bill Bradley's body was found Monday in a shallow grave outside Baghdad.

The Galveston man disappeared after an attack on his convoy on April 9, 2004. Five other Halliburton drivers died in that ambush.

A statement from Halliburton recognized Bradley's adventurous spirit, saying "his desire to see more of the world brought him to Iraq. Bill was performing an historic and noble job, and his work as a truck driver was an integral part of the reconstruction efforts in Iraq."

http://www.click2houston.com/news/4061624/detail.html

[BiggJawn]

1. "Mercennaires sans Pistolets"

"adventurous spirit"?

Yeah, What-EVUH!

[ChicanoPwr]

2. I wonder how many more...

of Hallibirton employees have died and we don't know about.

[el_gato]

3. good candidate for a darwin award

[leesa]

4. $$$$$$$$...no sympathy.

[SoonerShankle]

5. I can sympathize with his family on this loss, but

I do not sympathize with profiteering. Hopefully, Mr. Bradley ventured over there not just to make money, but to try to help out and make a difference. But I can't imagine not looking long and hard at the risk vs. compensation in a choice like this. Our troops are doing the same jobs these men are doing at a fraction of the cost. Pay our military personnel more, for they don't have the choice to be there.

[MADem]

13. I just have to correct an impression that you have

Not just you, but a lot of folks on this board. This is tough info to take, but this is how the Pentagon thinks.

The military DOES NOT WANT the SUPPORT ELEMENTS to be military. The higher your ratio of tail to tooth, the higher your operating costs. If it doesn't put ordnance on target, they do not want a military person doing it. The days of mess cooks, wrench benders, truck drivers and so forth are fading. The military focus is on WARFIGHTING. It's all warrior, all the time. You will never get rid of some military support functions, but they have been working aggressively over the past 30 years to increase the civilian presence in the support arena, while reducing the military contribution. It just is NOT cost-effective to have a SOLDIER driving a truck. They want the soldier to be carrying a weapon and engaging in warfighting. That's "bang for the buck," as it were.

You hire these support people, and yes, they cost more in salary, but you save that money in training costs, in infrastructure and instructor costs to support said training, you eliminate age and physical readiness requirements, and you avoid having to put pension money aside. Once the conflict ends, you DUMP the asset--in fact, you don't even have to worry about dumping them, the contractor does it all for you--the contractor pays the guy, manages the employment, deals with the families, all that stuff--the military just throws cash at the contractor and the contractor decides how much he can keep and how much he has to pay to con people to do the job. It is actually CHEAPER to contract. Yes, most of the money that you spend goes to SALARY, but realistically, who the fuck would go over there for what we pay a servicemember? NO ONE....unless the economy gets way, way worse. It's why, whenever these contractors can get away with it, they hire Filipinos, Koreans, Indonesians, and in Cuba, Jamaicans....they work for less.

It's all about operating costs. I am not suggesting that I like this war, that I endorse what we are doing over there, but that is the way it is. That is the way we will be prosecuting wars for the forseeable future. Calling these guys profiteers is fine, if it makes you feel better, but a soldier will NOT be the first choice to drive those trucks so long as they can hire a civilian to do it. We still have some direct combat support units that will do it, but their numbers are growing smaller and smaller as the years pass. I see a day when CIVILIANS will be going into initial operations right behind the main forces with the water buffalos and gas trucks...and that will get interesting, in a sick way.

When I entered the military, civilians were relatively rare, even in stateside assignments. Nowadays, they outnumber the military in many commands. It's just the way it is. As I said, if it doesn't put ordnance on target, it's shit.

Like it or not, that's the way they see it.

[Ilsa]

17. Isn't it odd how most of the people

driving the design of this new system have never had to really do it. Dimson wore a uniform that never got dirty on foreign soil. Most of the rest of them took deferments. They are designing war based on financial bottom line, as if it were an MBA case study.

[MADem]

18. I despise the dimwit, but this ain't his planning

He has put the process on steroids, but this has been going on, slowly but surely, since NAM was winding down. They started with very ancillary efforts, like Morale, Welfare and Recreation, expanded it to commissary, exchange services, and house hold goods shipments (those were actually the first efforts that went civilian, after WW2), and then, when the sky didn't fall, as they started adding family support programs, those were almost entirely civilianized. Then, they started in on hospitals (many civilian positions in stateside military hospitals, a real change from the WW2 through Vietnam staffing) and on, and on it went. The sense is that if is not a warfighting role, it should get a real close look--if you can civilianize it, you should.

The impetus is coming from the UNIFORMS, actually. When you are tasked to prosecute a war, you want all of your assets focused on successful execution of the mission. Also, it becomes easier to segregate "nice to have" stuff from "mission essential" stuff, and easier to explain the priorities to the suits on the Hill. From a money standpoint, the Services do better, too--the Congress is not going to cut direct warfighting monies, and it is easier to explain where the money is going when the functions are divided up.

The bad news for the bigwigs is that a lot of the "personal servitude" functions that used to be dumped on junior enlisted personnel have gone by the wayside. If the base commander wants a personal driver, he has to do without a clerk, or take it out of hide somewhere else, or put the kids on a watchbill and get a different kid every time he wants to sit in the back seat like Mussolini...!

[Skittles]

6. his desire to see more of the world

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

8. his desire to see more of the world get bombed

[RevolutionStartsNow]

7. How sad...I'll play this for him later...

When I pulled out of Basra they all wished me luck
Just like they always did before
With a bulletproof screen on the hood of my truck
And a Bradley on my back door
And I wound her up and shifted her down
And I offered this prayer to my lord
I said “God get me back home to Houston alive
and I won’t drive a truck anymore”

Early in the mornin’ and I’m rollin’ fast
Haulin’ nine thousand gallons of high test gas
Sergeant on the radio hollerin’ at me
Look out up ahead here come a R.P.G.
If I ever get home to Houston alive
Then I won’t drive a truck anymore

I’ve driven the big rigs for all of my life
And my radio handle’s “Train”
Down steep mountain roads on the darkest of nights
I had ice water in my veins
And I come over here ‘cause I just didn’t care
Now I’m older and wiser by far
If I ever get home to Houston alive
Then I won’t drive a truck anymore

Great God A’mighty what was wrong with me
I know the money’s good but buddy can’t you see
You can’t take it with you and that ain’t no lie
I don’t wanna let ‘em get me I’m too young to die
If I ever get home to Houston alive
Then I won’t drive a truck anymore

(Steve Earle, "Home to Houston")

[Wilber_Stool]

9. That sounds a bit odd doesn't it.

The body was buried. They don't usually do that, do they? Why didn't they just leave it by the side of the road like all of the others?

[leftchick]

10. and if it was buried...

how was it found?

[BiggJawn]

11. Remember the thread from yesterday about the starving police dogs?

2+2=.....

[MADem]

12. Why do I think that if Halliburton told the truth

...the statement would read "His desire to feed his family after being unable to find a goddamn job with health care benefits brought him to Iraq. Bill was no spring chicken, not marketable, desperate for cash, his unemployment had run out, they couldn't meet the mortgage on his wife's paltry paycheck alone, and his kids hadn't been to a doctor in some time, and his work as a truck driver was his sad attempt to get a nest egg going so that he could keep his family afloat in this country where the rich get richer, and the poor get screwed."

For some reason, I think that would probably be closer to the mark than the load of pap they try to shove at us.

Poor unfortunate bastard. I feel for his family.

[daleo]

14. "His desire to see the world earned us some nice profits"

"You just can't imagine how much we appreciate guys like him. Hell, we'll even chip in for the funeral."

[hangloose]

15. There have been 202 contractor deaths in Iraq which is close

to 15% of stated US military deaths. These are as a result of hostile action not accident whcih would increase the number.

[MADem]

19. Jesus Christ on a bicycle

I did not realize the contractor numbers were that high. What a dirty little secret....you'd think the lame stream media would track this number, too. They really SHOULD.

America needs to know the real cost of this war, not just in uniformed lives, but in the lives of these fat old unquestioning guys from these little red state towns, living in their little tract homes, and tossing the dice to get three years of pay for a six month to a year "take a chance" tour in the war zone. "Honey, I'm gonna buy you that Ford Windstar you always wanted, and we'll all take that trip to Disney World!!!" It's little men with big dreams, wanting to catch that big break, poor fools.

[goforit]

16. I'm sure cheney will show up for his funeral.