|
Date with fate - post 29 - - Fifteenth Job of Bob Part IX - Lawn Service - Could have been in Saudi
This entry was posted on 1/18/2011 1:30 AM and is filed under Jobs of Bob, Fate Fairies.
I probably have not mentioned in my many literary forays into revisiting my former jobs, that during my landscape days I tinkered with learning the irrigation trade. Texans called it "plum'in" and if the sprinklers were shooting water out into the middle of the boulevard they would say, "Call the Plummer."
I had worked with the "Plummers" from time to time at the Park Department. But, I never fell into the job at any proper capacity. I took a couple classes related to the field, but they mainly prepared one to pass the State irrigation exams and not the riggers of the labor intensive occupation.
There were two exams in those days, one for an Irrigator's Helper, and another for a bonafide Irrigator. I easily passed the Helper's exam down in Austin. But when it came time to taking the Irrigator's exam I lost interest. To me the design portion of the test was always overwhelming.
Non-the-less, through classes and conferences in the Park and Recreation, and landscape industries I hooked up with a local irrigation broker that had a big shop and contributed to those professional fields on several levels. And, their front man was funny, informative and a good presenter.
One thing led to another and at a class Funny-front-man was teaching in irrigation, he blurted out that an overseas company was needing some ambitious guys to work in irrigation and in the related area of oil piping. He gave out a phone number.
By that time, I had left working for the City and was off on my own landscape maintenance endeavor and said to myself, "What could inquiring into this tip hurt ?" It was early 1990.
To my surprise, but in retrospect it should not have surprised me, a guy with an Arab accent answered the phone. He said he was in a hurry to fill the positions. And then he said, "Let me interview you now."
"Where is the job?" I asked after collecting my thoughts and heading off the start of the inpromptu interview.
"Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq," he said matter-of-factly.
"How much per year?" I asked not too worried about offending a faceless interviewer on the phone.
"Sixty Thousand dollars per year, tax free," he said as if he were chatting about a tuna sandwich and a cup of coffee. 'You will have to sign a one-year contract."
Damn, not bad for a farm kid, I thought.
Well, I can always decline the invitation prior to signing if I am offered the job and get cold feet, I mused as I continued my analysis of what was quickly transpiring.
After telling him my extensive work background, he indicated my credentials were impressive and I was good to go after one last query.
"How much college do you have?" he asked.
"None," I answered.
Silence came from the other end of the line.
Then he asked with an incredulous tone, "How the hell can you not have any college and be from America?"
"It just was not in the cards; life and work got in the way," I replied.
Then he ended by saying, "Damn it, if you just had one semester I could probably get your resume past my handlers, but I have people to answer to. Thank you anyway for being interviewed."
It was at that moment that I concluded that if I ever did get to college, I would never regret any of it. And, I would not cry too much over the possibility of getting through college someday and being older and not getting the chance to use some particular part of the education I might have gleaned along the way.
And of course, that scenario of getting some college and then not being able to use the skills learned is just what has happened in this current horrible economy. But to this day I insist it is better to have the education and not use it than never having got it at all. You never know when another Funny-front-man with an Arab-accented buddy will offer you a lucrative deal out of the blue.
On a back-story note, a few months after my intriguing exchange with Arab-irrigation-dude, the whole region of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq was embroiled in our first Gulf War there.
Note: This blog "Jobs of Bob" Category does not list the jobs chronologically - I write about the experiences as they pop up in my memory and I often revisit an older job. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Jobs of Bob Page for an ordered chronology.
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Corporal Rachael Lorraine Hugo, 24, Madison, Wisconsin, died Friday, October 5, 2007 in Bayji, Iraq. She was killed when insurgents attacked her unit using an improvised explosive device and small arms fire. She was assigned to the 303rd Military Police Company, 97th Military Police Battalion, 89th Military Police Brigade, U.S. Army Reserve, out of Jackson, Michigan. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted as a medic, Hugo received commendation for saving a sergeant's life while under fire in Iraq in February of 2007. At the time of her own death she was killed trying help injured soldiers after they were hit by an improvised explosive device and came under small-arms fire in Bayji, north of Baghdad. She had been in Iraq close to a year and was due to return home in November 2007.
The Web site iraqnam.blogspot.com using information via WISC-TV-3, noted Hugo was a 2001 graduate from Madison East High School, she was serving as a combat medic with the U.S. Army Reserve in Iraq since September 2006. She was just weeks away from returning home. Hugo was studying to be a nurse and had been accepted at Viterbo College in La Crosse.
The Web site iraq.pigstye.net a data base for military casualties, noted via information from the Wisconsin State Journal that Rachael took classes working toward her bachelor's degree in nursing and also worked as a home health aide for the La Crosse County Health Department. As a certified home health aide she would visit homebound patients to help with daily health needs. Hugo also was employed by Meriter Hospital in Madison as a nursing assistant in the hospital 's mobile unit.
The Web site obits.nj.com a data base for obituaries noted via information from the Associated Press that Hugo was apparently treating another soldier when she herself was killed. The site mentioned Rachael had been a cheerleader during her high school years. During her military duties she was known for volunteering and going out on missions. She had two years of nursing school remaining.
The Wisconsin State Journal Web site mentioned Rachael also helped care for her grandmother during an illness. Hugo's rank posthumously was changed from Specialist to Corporal to acknowledge her role in combat.
Rachael's biography posted on the Gunderson Funeral Home Web site said she was born on May 13, 1983. She enjoyed learning karate, gymnastics and cheerleading, and also taking up a jazz dance class for several years. The site went on to mention she made the Dean's list in her nursing program. At the time of her death Rachael was survived by her father Kermit Hugo; he mother Ruth Hugo; brother Scott Hugo; and, grandmother Carol Hugo. Rachael Hugo was the 81st Wisconsin military service person to be killed in Iraq since the spring of 2003.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
99,357 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
9,825 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,435 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1460 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
841 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
32,126 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
10,082 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
103 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
27 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
145 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
21 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf; and, icasualties.org.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
