War Dangers Don't Deter U.S. Workers

"Take a moment and calm yourself down," the instructor told them. "If you don't get it right, you're out of here and you'll have to start over."

As the workers pulled on gloves and rubber boots, he went around checking to make sure they had put their masks on properly.

"Did you do a buddy check on her?" he asked one pair of workers. "You couldn't have. She's got hair in her mask. You need to fix it."

The drill, designed to teach workers how to put on protective suits in case of a biological or chemical weapon attack, are part of a week-long training course that Allen Petty and other KBR recruits take before heading to Iraq.

It is an Ellis Island of sorts. Everyone arriving at the orientation has a verbal offer, but each must pass a battery of tests and drills, including drug screening, a medical exam and security clearance.

KBR offers its workers one-year, open-ended contracts, which means the employee, the company or the federal government can cancel it at any time. Every four months, workers get 10 paid days off, plus up to $860 to cover travel expenses. Their salaries, like those of other Americans working abroad, are tax-free up to $80,000. And the company offers medical insurance coverage for employees and their families, plus $25,000 worth of life insurance, as part of a government requirement covering workplace injuries.

Allen Petty is not going to Iraq to get rich, he said during a pause in the training. No, he was going so that when he comes back he can build a house for his family "from the ground up."

When he said this, he used his hands to make a square, emphasizing that the house he builds with his own hands will belong to them.

"Before the 9th, it was about the money," he said, referring to the April date when the KBR convoy was attacked, a date that has become the 9/11 for civilian contractors in Iraq. "After the kidnappings, I considered that being a truck driver, they're still going to need somebody to supply the job sites. I'm excited in a way and scared of the unexpected. But the job part, it's just like driving here. It's automatic."

Like Petty, James Watkins, another recruit at orientation, has six children -- three boys and three girls, all teenagers. Watkins, a food service worker in Georgia, was going to Iraq to be a cook for KBR.

"Me and my wife talked about it," he said from Houston before he left. "There's some concern. The money is good. It's a big incentive, but it's not the only reason. There is also a sense of pride and duty."