Forum: Job Openings

asiatrails wrote:

Fiskerwad - Concur with the official motto for the Légion Étrangère; the motto I used is March or Die, the unofficial one.

In my experience, the Legion have the best MRE's. When I was in Chad there was an appropriate bottle of wine in the MRE, close to civilized living in a combat zone.

I think that's a tip that our military should pick up on, asiatrails !! Do a little fighting, sip a little vino!! haha
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Thank for all the good info. It helped me make a decision, and I am going to apply for a position.

I figure I can handle it for a year or two, maybe more. Then come back to the world and get my dream job selling tools at Home Depot.

Also, everbody nows that crew cheif aint not good spelerss

ve_tec wrote:

Thank for all the good info. It helped me make a decision, and I am going to apply for a position.

I figure I can handle it for a year or two, maybe more. Then come back to the world and get my dream job selling tools at Home Depot.

Also, everbody nows that crew cheif aint not good spelerss

ve_tec, I can tell just from your post that you will do fine and the company and the customer will be lucky to get your experience. Just keep focusing on that 10% employee discount at HD! Wink

(if I could swing THAT deal I could save a fortune!)
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Good luck ve tec, you will do fine.

Newbie Joined: Nov 12, 2006 Posts: 2 Status: Offline

I was one of those who had given Oman a chance. I too had a terrific attitude when I arrived. As the months passed my attitude began to change. There were many ingredients in this recipe for the destruction of my morale. Many of these ingredients were home grown. I didn’t take an “out of country” vacation for more than nine months. I plagued myself with financial problems because of my inability to take care of financial “loose ends” before I left to go on the contract. I also found myself buying way too many crowns and beads. If you have been there, you will know what I am talking about. Good times! What can I say.... It was my first contract job. I didn’t know what I was getting into.

As far as the job itself was concerned, it was a terrific experience. I say this because of the tremendous amount of responsibility that is placed upon your shoulders the day you begin and a sense of accomplishment as the aircraft leaves the ground. You must know by now that we are there to do our best while instructing people from another country in F-16 maintenance (or maintain them ourselves). We do it with far less than we ever had in the Air Force (or other locations). And we do it while overcoming cultural barriers, personality differences, substandard supply chain, lack of knowledgeable people and just overall living conditions. Everyday there are hurdles that invariably obstruct our path to the goal at hand. Everyday there are many reasons to get upset and angry at the situation. But this may only be highlighting the areas in which we need to improve our conflict resolution skills, “team work” skills, etc.. The world is not perfect in F-16 maintenance. There will always be something that will set you behind schedule or threaten to lower your FMC rate. Do your best. That is all that anyone can ask of you.

Lastly I would like to comment on your hostility toward the people for whom you work. It is very apparent that you despise the job that you do. You have continuously spoken badly about the people of that country. Your comments only show your apparent ignorance and inability to adapt to the surroundings in which you have placed yourself. Now you wish to blame others for your mistake. You don’t drive in a nice car that Lockheed has given you. You don’t live in a high rise apartment. You are treated differently than those from Fort Worth. So why don’t you try to better yourself and become one of “those guys” that you envy so much? You probably won’t get it done with the attitude that you currently have. I know that I wouldn’t hire you unless I needed someone to just fill a position in the Middle East. Oh....... So that’s how you got the job?

I made the decision to leave and then I did just that. I didn’t sit around and complain about every other person that I came in contact with on a daily basis. Yes we all need to vent from time to time and I am guilty of that. There were some serious things that irritated me about the people I worked with. Yes I complained. Yes I hoped that something would be done about it but I didn’t broadcast my worthless opinion for millions of people to see just to get some attention. Go about it in a different way. Do something positive about the situation rather than trying to make it more difficult for those that you currently work with. If you can’t get any action from management, do what you can at your level. In other words...... Stop crying and if you don’t like it......LEAVE! You are not a captive. Make a decision to stay or to go and do it. It’s simple. Or perhaps you have lost your ability to make rational personal decisions because you have been there for far too long. : ) It could be worse. You could be living in a tent while getting paid Air Force wages in a certain “more hostile” area. Look at just how good you really have it and then thank those who have allowed you the opportunity.

Sorry if I have hurt your feelings. No........ not really. : ) Have a great time!

Quote:

It could be worse. You could be living in a tent while getting paid Air Force wages in a certain “more hostile” area. Look at just how good you really have it and then thank those who have allowed you the opportunity.

Gawd no shi'ite!

I worked a contract gig most of '04 for a HORRIBLE company.....lied to us constantly, misrepresented the whole thing from the beginning, had total incompetents in "charge", tried daily to destroy your remaining morale. (I was a firefighter at Balad)

Having said that, I was making 7K a month to do what the military folks were doing for whatever they get paid....which ain't much....and I could call it quits whenever I wanted. Made it kinda tough to bitch too much. The guys who couldn't take it were the ones who were incapable of having fun and constantly focused on the stupid stuff. I spent some time at some of the FOBs and realized just exactly how good we had it at Balad. I don't know what its like in Oman.....but I'm betting nobody is shooting rockets at you.

I'm just sayin'......

Crewdog and Scott,

Well said, been there and done that, as have most of the people on this board. It is a rite of passage which will set you apart from others when you look for better paying and more responsible jobs. Attitude (in outlook) is key to future success.

Newbie Joined: Nov 12, 2006 Posts: 2 Status: Offline

Well put Scott! I hate anything being shot at me except for paintballs. And even those are very painful when the strike the right places... Shocked

They eventually wiped out my attitude as well, but just to the extent that I couldn't deal with the screaming incompetence of the people we worked for. The nice part for me was I went of my own free will, got compensated VERY well, and when when it just got to be too much, got to say "screw you guys, I'm going home." It took the bastages almost a year to make the situation untenable for me personally, but even then I never felt like complaining about my "plight". Light a match, or curse the dark. I eventually lit a match...it was just that simple. The ol' fun meter hit -2 and it was time for Scott to go back to his old life. The ones I respect are the people who's fun meter was at -23 but had to stay because they answered their country's call to serve in the military, so they sucked it up and pressed on.

I feel kinda stupid saying this, but I enjoyed Iraq for the most part. I liked the guys I worked with, and I LOVED working with the military people. I arranged it to where I got to see a lot of the country, and I loved being on an F-16 base. You get used to being shelled.....it is a BIG base, and they aren't really aiming at you...so you can't take it personally Smile

We had our own phones and internet.....big screen TV w/ surround, X-box and regular booze shipments from home. I had a room to myself with a good AC unit, and a mattress I ordered from Sears. (If I can get a good mattress at Balad, how hard is one to get in Oman?) Hell, I even "owned" my own HMMWV so I didn't have to ride the bus. Coudda whined about the transpo situation, (one of the MANY failings of our company) but instead concocted a scheme to "liberate" a theater asset hummer from the DRMO. Little sleight of hand and the right memo with the correct UIC and we were good. Even had a little "emergency" Kojack light I rigged up.

Balad had a nice theater, great pool, decent PX, fast food, good MWR events and a regular shuttle to Dubai. All in all, not a lot to complain about.
We had guys who came and left in a week, or even more stupid, stayed 2 months....got used to being there, and THEN went home. They focused on the petty Barbara Streisand and let it weigh them down, instead of understanding that they had a unique opprotunity and that whatever it was that they didn't like would not last forever. Focus on what you DO like and let the rest roll off. I liked being on the airfield doing defuels, being with the ARF guys on the fixed wing side and hanging out at the CASH. There was plenty to do if you were motivated to seek out new things. Generally, your situation is as bad or as good as you make it. Obviously that doesn't hold for everything. Being stuck on a FOB, living in a tent for 18 months, standing in line for 2 hours for 15 minutes on the phone once a week, eating MREs all the time and getting REALLY shot at while out patrolling is not something I'd have vollunteered to do....ever....but being a contractor at Balad was a pretty decent gig, mortars and all, and I just can't imagine Oman is THAT terrible, especially considering what a LOT of other people are doing in that part of the world without the ability to say "done, thanks" and making no $$$. I'm just having a tough time generating much sympathy for that guys "plight".

Well, it looks like we have a pretty lively post going here. I see a lot of different views on this subject. I have not read all the posts but from what I have read, it looks like Truthhurts is the only voice that has come out and is adamant about not going to UAE. Well, I also made a post on 5 Aug. '06 warning people about the UAE contract. So, as you can guess I am pretty much on Truth's side on this one. I was not in UAE, but I have a very reliable source that was in UAE and is now in Oman. And Truth's claims are basically right on.

I have worked for LM on 3 contracts (2 overseas and 1 stateside), and they are all jacked up. Piss poor living conditions, no parts or equipment, what equip. they do have is run down. I am not saying that everyone that is associated with Lockheed bad, but I will give you a few examples of what I have seen with my own eyes. If anyone has any questions about what I post then feel free send you questions my way and I will elaborate in further detail.

I am an F-16 crew chief by trade and my first exerience with LM was in Bahrain for the F-16 Falcon-Up Mod. When we got there I would say that a third of the crew probably couldn't pick an F-16 out of a police line up. We only had a couple of sheetmetal guys with F-16 exp. Now I know a lot of people out there right now are saying what's the big deal, sheetmetal is sheetmetal. And I used to think that until I realized that most of the SM guys had never seen a torque tip screw before. So they proceeded to depanel our first jet with #2 philips bits and strip out all the screws. Well, the problem there is LM wanted us to reuse EVERYTHING we took off, hence not benchstock to replace the screws. Now when I say reuse everything, I mean everything; screws, old rusted out bolts and of all things O rings that had been on those planes for 10+ years. Now some mechanics might have just gone with the flow, but some of us stood our ground and actually got new O rings. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. Guys showing up to work drunk, sleeping on the job, out at the whore houses all night and then calling in sick. I'm not claiming to be a saint, I did my fair share of drinking and chasing the ladies while I was there, but we were being paid to do a job. So, I expected guys to man the F*$% and do their jobs. Now it all depended on who you were over there, I saw blatant favortism. Some guys would show up hung over/drunk and get in trouble, others would be sent to a back room to take a nap. There was also a suspected case of embezzlement by the site manager, who after the suspicion was brought to the attention of management was promptly fired. I say suspected, but you can do the math on that. I mean the guy was pocketing the mechanics gas money and money owed to them for purchasing special tools, which we were told would be on site when we got there. Other sites I have seen outright discrimination, such as people being threatened by someone of a different race and nothing happened. In fact the guy that made the threat was promoted to supervisor the following week. But another guy of different race made a threat and he was suspended immediately and terminated about a week later. And there are many more examples I could give, but I don't feel like turning this short story into a novel. Basically what I am saying is, if you want to work for Lockheed I wish you the best of luck. But like I saw in a few of the posts, get everything in writing. And that is still not a guarantee that you won't get screwed in the end. If anyone has any questions I will answer them to the best of my abbilities. Good luck to everyone searching for jobs right now, hopefully you won't end up at one of the questionable work sites.

Nub

Nubdinga wrote:

....I have worked for LM on 3 contracts (2 overseas and 1 stateside)...

If it is/was so bad, why keep going back to the well.......?

I have worked for LM Aero, LMLM, LSI, & UNC doing contract work...it sucks...it's the nature of the beast. But, it is a means to an end, you aren't in the military anymore, you have to deal with civilians (good and bad). You will only get out what you put in.

I can't speak for Oman or UAE, I haven't been to either of those, but Saudi and Jordan are great places, sure, if your working on a contract it's not going to be as good as if your working for LM Aero, but you signed the dotted line with YOUR company not LM Aero, get over it and try to improve your situation, either by improving the local work environment or getting the hell out of Dodge.....

Sorry, it's Monday.......

Smitty

Oh I did improve my situation. I am no longer with Lockheed and I left under my own terms. I am only informing people of the Lockheed I am familiar with. A lot of people are looking at working for LM and I just want them to understand that, "Not all that glitters is gold."

Nub

Newbie Joined: Aug 10, 2006 Posts: 2 Status: Offline

Hey, Truthhurts. I know EXACTLY what you're going through.

I was in Saudi Arabia working with Al-Salam Aircraft Company!

I understand how hard it is to leave a place like that. It literally took me weeks to escape! They lied about where we were going to live and everything. They showed us all of these pictures of Villas. Once we got there, they shoved us in trailers! They even lied about our locations. They told us one place, then they forced us to go to another place.

The Saudi Arabians were horrible maintainers. They all just sat around and expected the Americans to do everything for them. When they screwed something up, they blamed the Americans. Shoot! One time, they all showed up 3 hours late for work. They missed the first sorties because of that, too!

Al Salam didn't back us up one bit. The Americans for the company didn't even back us up.

Oh Yeah. Al Salam also forced ALL of us to work and live ILLEGALLY. It was horrible! One of our guys got sent to jail. One guy was rejected medical treatment. None of us were allowed to bring our families over.

I could go on for HOURS about how horrible and dangerous that place was (and IS). It doesn't have to be that way. It's all about money though. That's what it's all about. Neither the Americans, nor the Saudis, Omanis, or the UAE guys care one bit about the mechanics. They don't care. The American government doesn't even care about you while you're over there. That's why so many Americans are getting killed. The government refuses to protect them over there.

Anyway... I would strongly advise not to work for Al Salam. And from what I'm hearing, you probably shouldn't work for Lockheed over there either.

I can't believe Lockheed still has it's requirements set at 7-level. Haha! They don't think!

I'll be glad to answer any questions yall may have too.

Thank you, TruthHurts. Thank you for being brave enough to tell the truth!

Forum: Job Openings

Reasons NOT to come over to the UAE or Oman from those here