Sad news - body of UF student recovered

[Gatorubet]

Body found in Iraq is UF student -- OrlandoSentinel.com

A former Army paratrooper in Iraq, Cote completed his
freshman year in Gainesville in the spring of 2006. He
returned to Iraq as a private contractor to earn more
money for school.

He and four Crescent Security co-workers were
abducted in an ambush at a fake police checkpoint
on Nov. 16, 2006, near the Kuwait border.

 

[3074326]

Terrible.. even more terrible that he was doing it so he could pay for an education..

 

[OCBuckWife]

Body found in Iraq is UF student -- OrlandoSentinel.com

A former Army paratrooper in Iraq, Cote completed his
freshman year in Gainesville in the spring of 2006. He
returned to Iraq as a private contractor to earn more
money for school.

Uh, two words to say. Financial aid.

 

[Brewtus]

Sorry, but I've got no sympathy for private contractors that get themselves killed in Iraq. It's not like he was in the military, or a cop or fireman that got killed in the line of duty. He voluntarily went into a war zone, got paid well and knew the risks.

 

[JohnnyCockfight]

The private contractors are compensated for the increased risk, but that doesn't take away from the fact that there was a kidnapping and a murder. My thoughts go out to the family.

Anyone know why the GI Bill wasn't covering his tuition if he was formerly a paratrooper? I'm guessing that he wanted to make some money, rather than needing money for school.

 

[starBUCKS]

People know the dangers they face when accepting a 6 figure tax free job.

 

[Brewtus]

The private contractors are compensated for the increased risk, but that doesn't take away from the fact that there was a kidnapping and a murder. My thoughts go out to the family.

He and his coworkers went voluntarily to a country known for kidnappings and brutal murders. It shouldn't be too much of a shock that they were kidnapped and murdered. And it sounds like their kidnappers kept them alive for awhile, I wonder if their company did anything to try and find them or just wrote them off as disposable assets.

 

[Mike80]

People know the dangers they face when accepting a 6 figure tax free job.

Tax free my ass.....you still pay taxes when you end up over in Iraq....trust me....

 

[Mike80]

Body found in Iraq is UF student -- OrlandoSentinel.com

A former Army paratrooper in Iraq, Cote completed his
freshman year in Gainesville in the spring of 2006. He
returned to Iraq as a private contractor to earn more
money for school.

He and four Crescent Security co-workers were
abducted in an ambush at a fake police checkpoint
on Nov. 16, 2006, near the Kuwait border.

I feel bad for the kid and his family.

It's not easy over there for anyone. This is one of the reasons they told us to drive past any checkpoints that weren't manned by Americans, but that was 2004.

and no Brewtus, I seriously doubt his company wrote him off as an "expendable asset"

 

[starBUCKS]

Tax free my ass.....you still pay taxes when you end up over in Iraq....trust me....

Civilian Contractor Jobs.com - Main Page

80 Thousand Dollars a year tax free, a condo with marble floors and all utilities paid for, a brand new Nissan to drive, 30 days paid vacation, 27 dollars a day for food, free airfare back home and it was in a cool country with 4 star hotels, western restaurants, warm oceans and beautiful people from all around the world.
I could not believe it was this easy, all I had to do to get this great overseas job was send a resume at the right time to the right company and know what to expect.
A couple of years later while still working on the same job, I heard about another job from a guy that I worked with so I applied for that one. Three weeks later I was hired again. But this time I was making over 150 Thousand Dollars a year, with 60 days vacation a year - not bad for a ?blue collar? guy from a small town.

Sounds like this guy doesn't mind the risk

 

[Mike80]

Civilian Contractor Jobs.com - Main Page




Sounds like this guy doesn't mind the risk

I wish....

you don't get the 80K tax free....

You have to spend 330 days out of country, meaning from January 1st to December 31, and you pay taxes on every paycheck as usual.

At the next tax time, you will have likely ended up paying something around 45-50k in taxes alone (I know I did) and ONLY if you had 0 deductions/exemptions. After that you get the taxes bad on the first $80K you made while they continue to tax the shit out of the rest of it.

As for the 60 days of vacation, damn I wish my company did that. That is absolutely company specific. I ended up having 2 weeks total which is what I would have had if I hadn't been deployed at all.

I won't say what I made over there, but my average day was 17 hours long including travel time from site to site to site.

BTW it is kind of important to remember to change your exemptions when you get home, but that's another story

Was it worth it? Absolutely I think so and not just for monetary reasons either. I've tried to go again but my company and my current customer (being a scumbag contractor after all ) won't release me to go unfortunately.

 

[scooter1369]

Cars? Money? Taxes?

Was this thread not about a young American life snuffed out by terrorist fucks?

 

[Mike80]

Cars? Money? Taxes?

Was this thread not about a young American life snuffed out by terrorist fucks?

ehh don't you know, he was JUST a contractor....we don't need to have any sympathy for them.....

 

[BuckeyeRyn]

ehh don't you know, he was JUST a contractor....we don't need to have any sympathy for them.....

Says a lot about the mentality floating around town these days... :(

 

[Mike80]

Says a lot about the mentality floating around town these days... :(

I know.

Unfortunately it's not as new as it seems though. Due to the timing of my wife's birthday (and a certain Ohio State game in 2004), I was back around the time of the elections and ended up being told such things....