Truck Drivers Train for Iraqi Jobs

HOUSTON – Eric Stringer is undergoing drills at a training camp in Houston to assure he is prepared to survive a biological or chemical attack. But he's not a soldier — he's a truck driver, training to work in Iraq where the salary is outweighing the safety risks for some.

Stringer will soon be driving fuel trucks for KBR (Kellogg, Brown and Root (search)) a subsidiary of Halliburton (search), the company that has a $10 billion government contract to help rebuild and reshape Iraq. It's the same company that Thomas Hamill (search) worked for when his truck was attacked and he was kidnapped on April 9.

So far in Iraq, 35 KBR workers have been killed and 75 have been wounded. Two remain missing. But for Stringer and the rest of the KBR recruits, the $80,000 they'll earn — tax-free — is just too good to pass up, no matter the dangerous conditions.

"I needed a job," said Stringer. "And this is a pretty good opportunity ... to support and take care of my family."

That heavy, hot workload and the constant threat of danger are things every recruit is warned about, point blank.

"When they get into training the first day we really let 'em have it as far as telling them how many deaths we've had in Iraq ... the mortar fire, the constant small arms fire, the constant dangers and hazards they're going to be facing," said John Watson, a KBR instructor.

Click here to watch a report by Fox News Channel's Phil Keating.