Having A Blast

Early last Friday afternoon I received an e-mail request for resumes. Every now and then we'll get requests from different divisions located throughout the company looking for people who might be interested working on some task. While I do have a set job, my managers are open to the possibility that I might find greater satisfaction doing another task for another division.

The job posting is looking for people to perform forensic analysis on IEDs that have been rendered safe. IEDs (improvised explosive devices) are essentially modern landmines and are the cause of a great number of our troops' injuries and deaths. From what I understand, the bomb squads find these IEDs and disarm them. Then they'll be given to me and I'll be tasked with the analysis. Most likely I would be trying to determine who made the IEDs or where they came from. Plus I would be on the look out for any new improvements to the technology that might make them more lethal or harder to detect. This task would be performed 'in theater'. That puts me in Afghanistan. The job is for 6 months, working 12 hours a day 7 days a week. After the first 3 months, I would be given a 2 week vacation. With hazard pay I would probably make a little over 4 times what I would make here for that 6 month period.

On Friday this seemed like a terrific idea. I really want to at least post my resume to see if I'd get accepted. I could always say 'no' if I change my mind. After all it's not like I've got anything major happening for the next 6 months. The task sounds awesome, it's a once in a life time opportunity (and quite possibly the last one if I were to get blowed up), and the pay isn't too shabby either. But ultimately I don't think I could go. It wouldn't be right to put such a great amount of stress on my family. Mom has already said she would prefer if I didn't go. And Mom's not the worrier. Dad is. Right now he's over in Israel doing some work, so I haven't mentioned it to him, but I could imagine his response. The thing is though that about a year ago I was offered work in Iraq. They were perfectly fine with that, even encouraging, but unfortunately Afghanistan is just a bit too rough right now. It's a shame though, I would have had some great blog material for 6 months.