More information from my friend in Iraq:

This e-mail came in last night. A little more background - he moved to Florida sometime last year from Michigan after accepting a job with a civil engineering firm that had a lot of business with water management districts around the state. This is what he said about what led up to his stay in Iraq:

Wes - well, things got slow in WPB and ther didn't seem to be too much on the horizon. I was here in early May for a short (10 days) assignment, took that one pretty much for the adventure and to say I'd been here, but was approached at that time about a coming back for a more extended stay. The money is great, hours are long, safety/security hasn't been an issue but there's always the chance, so here I am - I've just completed the 1st two months of a one-year tour. Probably a good thing I volunteered as well, because the guys back in WPB have been on shortened hours for over a month and there may be layoffs soon if there's no FL work.

Work is mostly construction inspection and contract administration, stuff I know a lot about, just the culture/attitude towards business is quite different. Example, with only a slight exagerration:

The pipe is supposed to be steel, and the contractor is trying to use plastic - I point his out, saying they can't use it, and they tell me "No, no, is steel" - I say that if it were steel, a magnet would stick to it but they insist, "is steel, is steel", all with a straight face and I'm wondering how they can lie like this - only later does it occur to me that they weren't lying and what they were saying was "is steal, is steal" and they want to bury it before the rightful owner shows up!

Anyway, hope you are well and having fun - take care.