Would you go to Iraq for a year and be paid $200k?
jdietrich: I'm really rather keen on having my head attached to my body, so I would have to say no. I bet Ken Bigley thought he was on to a nice little earner, right up until al-Zarqawi's men came through the door.I'm just a clueless civvie, but it seems to me that the insurgency in Iraq is becoming more indiscriminate and that the risks to all westerners there are largely similar, regardless of what they are there to do. IEDs and mortars don't distinguish between military and civilian targets. The kidnapper actively seek out civilians.Other posters with far more relevant experience than I seem to think that you won't really have any contact with the locals and spend most of your time doing grunt work, so it doesn't seem to me like there are many intangible benefits beyond being able to say that you've worked in a warzone. If you want a great cultural experience, surely you'd be better off going to places where you don't have to travel in a convoy of armoured cars? Travel is tremendously cheap at the moment and there are plenty of opportunities to work your way around, especially as a young, educated American - half the world is willing to offer you a Working Holiday visa. If you don't fancy teaching English, tending a bar or picking fruit, you could tote a laptop and freelance.Think about longer-term earning potential. What would you learn in Iraq that would make you attractive to civilian employers? What opportunities would that entry on your CV open up? What would be the value of a year's experience as a junior developer at a bank, for instance?If you're typical of the average HN reader, you could do far better. I can't begin to estimate the value created by the average startup founder in their first year, but I'm guessing that it's a hell of a lot more than $200k. It's never been cheaper to startup and never easier to reach ramen profitability. There's never been more angel money and never more VCs willing to make small, early-stage investments.The opportunity you have strikes me as a boring, dangerous dead-end for not very much money. As a recent graduate, I'd be far more concerned about building up long-term equity than about making quick cash. I expect that your student debt must feel like a massive burden, but relative to your career earning potential it's chump change. Think long term, think about what you can build up for yourself.