Contractor returns from Iraq in time for holidays

    David Hunter doesn?t get to spend much time with his family. In fact, he?s only in the country three weeks out of the year. So you can rest assured that he enjoys every minute he has with his family, especially during Christmas.

    Hunter spends the other 49 weeks of the year in Iraq where he works as an aircraft parts contractor for a company called ARINC. Hunter returned to Washington a little more than a week ago, in time to spend the holidays with his wife and kids. He will return to Iraq on Jan. 8.

    Hunter has worked as a contractor in Iraq since 2005. Before that, he served in the U.S. Army from 1985 until 1998 with a focus on aviation.

    ?I went into the Army with the intent to go to Europe, get a college fund and leave after four years,? said Hunter. ?Four years then turned into 12 years.?

    A friend of Hunter?s called him after the Iraq War began in 2003 to tell him there might be a job for him as a contractor.

    As a contractor, Hunter collects broken aircraft parts, such as blades and engines, and sends them to the United States or Kuwait to be fixed. 

    How does it feel to be away from his family for nearly the entire year?

    ?I miss my family all the time when I?m over there,? said Hunter.

    Fortunately for Hunter, modern technology allows him to stay in close contact with his loved ones back in the States.

    ?My wife and I send e-mails to each other every day,? said Hunter. ?We also use Skype to communicate. My dad calls me on Skype almost every night.?

    Hunter?s wife Toni said the two of them seem to communicate better over the Internet.

    ?I talk to him more when he?s over there than when he?s here,? said Toni.

    The Internet isn?t used just to phone home. Hunter said he uses instant messaging devices in his job.

     ?We use Yahoo! Messenger at work. If the mechanics need a part, they?ll send me an instant message that says, ?We need this piece. Here?s the work order number,?? said Hunter.

    There are many things that Americans take for granted, such as hot water, that are in short supply in Iraq.

    ?We have eight showers in a single trailer, and it runs out of hot water pretty quickly when everyone gets up at 6 a.m.,? said Hunter. ?You pretty much know you?re going to get a cold shower that time of day.?

    A constant supply of electricity is another luxury Hunter and his crew often have to live without.

    ?Sometimes they cut our power off at work to conserve fuel,? said Hunter. ?You could be in a dark warehouse for two hours with no electricity. Sometimes it can last for as many as eight hours. It?s hard to get anything done with no electricity. In those cases, we have to get by with flashlights.?

For the full article, see the Dec. 24 print edition of the Washington Evening Journal.