June 20, 2004 in Region

Contractor looks forward to Iraq duty

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YAKIMA – Attacks on civilian contractors in Iraq have been on the rise recently, but 26-year-old Ian Forwood has no plans to back out of a yearlong tour of duty there.

He’s scheduled to leave for Iraq soon. He’ll be stationed in Balad, a hotspot north of Baghdad where coalition forces have suffered casualties. And despite the escalating violence contractors and troops are weathering, he said he’s looking forward to it.

“It’s the place to be,” Forwood said. “People wonder why contractors are needed, and the reason is that contractors help pick up the load so the soldiers can be alleviated of some of the stress.”

Forwood knows what stress is like. He spent more than six years as an aviation technician in the Army, the last nine months with a medivac unit in Afghanistan. He was a mechanic on Blackhawk helicopters and a crewman who evacuated wounded personnel from combat zones.

Following his discharge, he got hired as a civilian contractor for Raytheon, a defense firm, returning to Afghanistan for another 15 months. In Iraq, he’ll work on helicopters and C-23s, a type of fixed-wing aircraft, for Duncan Aviation.

He realizes there are dangers involved.

“It’s a volatile area … but it’s pretty much standard living conditions for the military there,” Forwood said. “I’ve had previous experience, so I’ve got a certain tolerance for it.”

Forwood spoke to the Yakima Herald-Republic as he was visiting his family here Friday, the same day news broke that civilian contractor Paul M. Johnson Jr. had been beheaded by his captors in Saudi Arabia.

Asked if the brutal slaying made him worried about his own safety, Forwood paused and said, “The living conditions in Saudi Arabia are different. Contractors have been working out of there for 20-odd years. They live off-base in communal housing. There are … I guess you would call them ‘blind spots’ in the security there.”

Johnson’s killing, and the display of grisly photos of his body on the Internet, were reminiscent of last month’s beheading of Nick Berg in Iraq. Like Johnson, Berg was an American civilian contractor taken hostage.

Other contractors have been killed or wounded in roadside car bombs and ambushes.

But Forwood, a 1996 graduate of Eisenhower High School, said he’s confident the U.S.-led coalition is keeping the hot zones in Iraq secure.

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