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Leaving again
Rory Mayberry of Myrtle Creek has been working in Iraq for Kellogg Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Haliburton, in its food service and mortuary affairs division since January. He's been home since Apri 27 and will return to the Middle East Sunday.
MYRTLE CREEK -- He treats their bodies with solemn dignity even as bombs burst around him.
Equipped with a military issued firearm, a flak vest and a helmet, 42-year-old Myrtle Creek resident Rory Mayberry retrieves the bodies of slain friends and servicemen in Iraq and makes them presentable for their families before they take their final trip home.
It's brutal work.
He is not a soldier, though he had a stint in the Army in the late 1970s.
Mayberry is working for a subsidiary of Halliburton, one of the world's largest providers of services to the oil and gas industry. The subsidiary, Kellogg Brown and Root, or KBR, is the U.S. military's main logistics contractor in Iraq. It designs, constructs and maintains military installations.
Mayberry has been working for KBR's food service and mortuary affairs division in Iraq since January. He lives and works alongside roughly 4,000 other Americans at Camp Anaconda near Balaad.
Lately, though, he's mainly dealing with the dead.
"I have a radio and when I get a call from the Army I go out," he said. "We bring the bodies back to the military morgue and try to I.D. them. If they're military, we turn them over to the military. If they're KBR, the company handles it. I get them dressed and set up for the funeral, then the body is sent to their local mortuary (back home)."
KBR's personnel director at the company's Houston headquarters was unavailable for comment at deadline.
Mayberry has begun to fear for his safety and his life.
"Our camp has been hit with constant explosions for six weeks now," he said. "You never know when one of those rockets going overhead is coming for you."
According to Reuters News Service, since March 2003 more than 680 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq but there is no public record of the number of dead among the tens of thousands of civilian contractors working there. A State Department office tracks civilian deaths, but for security reasons, no details or figures are released.
"All you ever hear about is the soldiers," Mayberry said. "But a lot of civilians have died too."
Mayberry said Halliburton occasionally sends e-mails to employees notifying them about recent attacks and murders of personnel, but the information is always vague. What he knows for certain is that he has prepared the corpses of more than 150 servicemen and co-workers since he arrived in Iraq.
Equipped with a military issued firearm, a flak vest and a helmet, 42-year-old Myrtle Creek resident Rory Mayberry retrieves the bodies of slain friends and servicemen in Iraq and makes them presentable for their families before they take their final trip home.
It's brutal work.
He is not a soldier, though he had a stint in the Army in the late 1970s.
Mayberry is working for a subsidiary of Halliburton, one of the world's largest providers of services to the oil and gas industry. The subsidiary, Kellogg Brown and Root, or KBR, is the U.S. military's main logistics contractor in Iraq. It designs, constructs and maintains military installations.
Mayberry has been working for KBR's food service and mortuary affairs division in Iraq since January. He lives and works alongside roughly 4,000 other Americans at Camp Anaconda near Balaad.
Lately, though, he's mainly dealing with the dead.
"I have a radio and when I get a call from the Army I go out," he said. "We bring the bodies back to the military morgue and try to I.D. them. If they're military, we turn them over to the military. If they're KBR, the company handles it. I get them dressed and set up for the funeral, then the body is sent to their local mortuary (back home)."
KBR's personnel director at the company's Houston headquarters was unavailable for comment at deadline.
Mayberry has begun to fear for his safety and his life.
"Our camp has been hit with constant explosions for six weeks now," he said. "You never know when one of those rockets going overhead is coming for you."
According to Reuters News Service, since March 2003 more than 680 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq but there is no public record of the number of dead among the tens of thousands of civilian contractors working there. A State Department office tracks civilian deaths, but for security reasons, no details or figures are released.
"All you ever hear about is the soldiers," Mayberry said. "But a lot of civilians have died too."
Mayberry said Halliburton occasionally sends e-mails to employees notifying them about recent attacks and murders of personnel, but the information is always vague. What he knows for certain is that he has prepared the corpses of more than 150 servicemen and co-workers since he arrived in Iraq.
It was April 2 when he got news that four company men had been killed and mutilated after their convoy, transporting fuel and food, was attacked near Fallujah. The men's deaths sparked ongoing military action in Fallujah and an increase in unrest throughout Iraq that has led to more than 130 U.S. soldiers and over 1,000 Iraqis dead since April 1.
The gruesome mutilations, Mayberry said, should serve as proof that Iraqis resent the American presence in their country. Many, he said, cling to the idea that deposed dictator Saddam Hussein will return to power.
"If George W. Bush were kidnapped, no matter how you feel about him, do you think we wouldn't want to save him? Of course we would," he said.
Mayberry was acquainted with former American hostage Thomas Hamill, who also lived in Camp Anaconda.
"I'm glad he's alive," he said.
The lure of Iraq was money, Mayberry said, the same impulse that brought thousands of other civilians into the war zone. Mayberry had just left a job at Mountain View Funeral Home and Crematory in Myrtle Creek when he saw an ad for employees with mortuary experience on a U.S. Navy Web site. It promised an opportunity to earn several thousand dollars each month. He couldn't refuse.
"You can't make that kind of money here in Douglas County," he said. "I have a family to support, and minimum wage isn't going to do it."
Salaries are good, but KBR only provides $50,000 in life insurance for its employees, he said. The company will continue to pay wages if an employee is kidnapped, but as for disability coverage, "The only coverage you get is that they send you home," he said.
Mayberry's been in Myrtle Creek on vacation since April 27 and is planning to leave for the Middle East again this Sunday.
His wife of 19 years, Delores, and their 15-year-old daughter Krystal, have conflicting emotions about whether he should return to Iraq.
"It's screwed up," he said. "It's hard. Fifty drivers have already quit since this last thing (the Fallujah attack). It's upsetting. I feel like I'm doing a good job for my country, but I have to wonder if it's worth it. I didn't know it was going to get like this."
Mayberry's daughter has been ill since he's been away. She's become fixated on the news and doesn't want to go to school. His wife has been diagnosed with high blood pressure, a condition she never had before.
Delores Mayberry said her health concerns are a direct result of worry and recent news that a rocket passed through her husband's office, narrowly avoiding him.
"I was lucky," he said. "It was a dud."
Mayberry has a laptop computer with him at camp. He e-mails his wife as often as he can -- sometimes several times a day. Other times weeks will pass before she hears from him.
"I've been worried sick," she said.
Mayberry's wife believes he's changed since he's been in Iraq. He thought it would be a fun experience, an adventure. Instead, it's a disaster, she said.
Mayberry is committed to stay for a year, but can opt out after six months. That's still a month away.
"As the days get closer to his leaving I can't stand it," she said. "I don't think he wants to go either."
Mayberry has resigned himself to the fact he has to return to the Middle East, but has started searching for work locally. Staring at the screen on his computer, he looked at a montage of digital photos he's taken of chaos in Iraq and set to music.
"There are doctors and paramedics and people like me getting killed and fired on every day," he said as a Rascal Flats country song called, "I Know There's No Guarantees" played in the background. Image after image of explosions and smoke clouding the red skyline of Iraq flashed on the screen.
"People need to know what's going on," he said.
* You can reach reporter Stacy D. Stumbo at 957-4230 or by e-mail at sstumbo@newsreview.info.
The gruesome mutilations, Mayberry said, should serve as proof that Iraqis resent the American presence in their country. Many, he said, cling to the idea that deposed dictator Saddam Hussein will return to power.
"If George W. Bush were kidnapped, no matter how you feel about him, do you think we wouldn't want to save him? Of course we would," he said.
Mayberry was acquainted with former American hostage Thomas Hamill, who also lived in Camp Anaconda.
"I'm glad he's alive," he said.
The lure of Iraq was money, Mayberry said, the same impulse that brought thousands of other civilians into the war zone. Mayberry had just left a job at Mountain View Funeral Home and Crematory in Myrtle Creek when he saw an ad for employees with mortuary experience on a U.S. Navy Web site. It promised an opportunity to earn several thousand dollars each month. He couldn't refuse.
"You can't make that kind of money here in Douglas County," he said. "I have a family to support, and minimum wage isn't going to do it."
Salaries are good, but KBR only provides $50,000 in life insurance for its employees, he said. The company will continue to pay wages if an employee is kidnapped, but as for disability coverage, "The only coverage you get is that they send you home," he said.
Mayberry's been in Myrtle Creek on vacation since April 27 and is planning to leave for the Middle East again this Sunday.
His wife of 19 years, Delores, and their 15-year-old daughter Krystal, have conflicting emotions about whether he should return to Iraq.
"It's screwed up," he said. "It's hard. Fifty drivers have already quit since this last thing (the Fallujah attack). It's upsetting. I feel like I'm doing a good job for my country, but I have to wonder if it's worth it. I didn't know it was going to get like this."
Mayberry's daughter has been ill since he's been away. She's become fixated on the news and doesn't want to go to school. His wife has been diagnosed with high blood pressure, a condition she never had before.
Delores Mayberry said her health concerns are a direct result of worry and recent news that a rocket passed through her husband's office, narrowly avoiding him.
"I was lucky," he said. "It was a dud."
Mayberry has a laptop computer with him at camp. He e-mails his wife as often as he can -- sometimes several times a day. Other times weeks will pass before she hears from him.
"I've been worried sick," she said.
Mayberry's wife believes he's changed since he's been in Iraq. He thought it would be a fun experience, an adventure. Instead, it's a disaster, she said.
Mayberry is committed to stay for a year, but can opt out after six months. That's still a month away.
"As the days get closer to his leaving I can't stand it," she said. "I don't think he wants to go either."
Mayberry has resigned himself to the fact he has to return to the Middle East, but has started searching for work locally. Staring at the screen on his computer, he looked at a montage of digital photos he's taken of chaos in Iraq and set to music.
"There are doctors and paramedics and people like me getting killed and fired on every day," he said as a Rascal Flats country song called, "I Know There's No Guarantees" played in the background. Image after image of explosions and smoke clouding the red skyline of Iraq flashed on the screen.
"People need to know what's going on," he said.
* You can reach reporter Stacy D. Stumbo at 957-4230 or by e-mail at sstumbo@newsreview.info.
'I didn't know it was going to get like this.'
<b>Rory Mayberry,</b> <i>Myrtle Creek resident</i> |
