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 For many around the world, that is the sound of opportunity knocking.
The war in Iraq -- nearing the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion
-- has focused attention on some modern twists to life in the field, from soldier-bloggers to base coffee shops serving up lattes.
But few are as profound as the rise in military outsourcing.
While the spotlight shines brightest on the private security contractors and the fallout after the Blackwater Worldwide shootings last year, the true face of the war-as-work world is the legions of Iraqis and economic migrants from even poorer nations chasing a chance at a juicier payday.
The Associated Press toured the shops and eateries in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone for a closer look at Iraq's little documented international force: the workers drawn to the war for a chance at profit.
For instance, Pramod Benjamin, a 30-year-old from a family of farmers in the south Indian state of Kerala. He's been in the Green Zone for more than three years making sandwiches at a Subway restaurant.
"I'm happy and I want to stay. I need the money," he said recently as he piled meat on a foot-long bun for an American soldier.
Before he arrived, he made about $270 a month working in Kuwait for Subway. In Baghdad, he makes $900
-- and, like most outside workers at U.S. facilities in Iraq, he pays nothing for living quarters and meals.
There are roughly 166,000 coalition troops in Iraq compared with the nearly 161,000 contract workers, according to Central Command.
A late 2007 census of contract workers conducted by U.S. Central Command said 30 percent of those
-- or 45,500 workers -- are "third-country" nationals, meaning neither Iraqi or American. Iraqis make up 53 percent of the total while 17 percent are Americans.
"I'm here so I can make a better life for my family," said Miguel, a Peruvian manning a checkpoint in the Green Zone. "With the money I make here, I might be able to buy a house, maybe start a business back home."
Miguel, who only gave his first name for fear of being fired, makes $1,000 a month. In Peru, he said he would be making half that.
Their willingness to work in a war zone stands in contrast to a near mutiny last year by the U.S. diplomatic corps. The State Department nearly had to force diplomats on threat of dismissal to take posts in Iraq.
The pay may be relatively good, but the risks are real.
At least 1,123 contract workers have died in the nearly five years since the American-led invasion, according to a U.S. Labor Department fourth-quarter report for 2007. That compares with nearly 4,000 deaths among U.S. soldiers in Iraq.
The latest worker known killed was an American working for a New York-based consulting firm, SOS International. Jerome McCauley, 44, of Shawboro, N.C., died after being shot Jan. 31 on the road to Baghdad's airport, once considered the most dangerous stretch of asphalt on the planet, but relatively quiet of late.
In September, private guards working for Blackwater Worldwide, who protect U.S. diplomats, fired into a busy intersection in Baghdad, leaving 17 civilians dead. There have been other deadly incidents.
The dependence on contract labor, analysts say, is in part a response to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's push for a leaner fighting force. But it is also a result of the particular nature of the Iraq war, where fighting and reconstruction are happening simultaneously; the military simply cannot do both without help.
The Labor Department's death statistics do not give nationality breakdowns and there could be more contract workers killed in Iraq than reported. The count is based on the number of families filing for death benefits, and non-Americans might not routinely submit claims, said Deborah Avant, a professor at the University of California-Irvine and author of the 2005 book "The Market for Force: The Consequences of Privatizing Security."
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 Hundreds of companies doing business in Iraq depend on third-country nationals for labor. American chains like Subway, Burger King and Pizza Hut have outlets dotted across Iraq, either on military bases or in the Green Zone.
Nearly all checkpoints in the Green Zone are manned by third-country nationals
-- at the moment mostly Peruvians and Ugandans.
Other such workers cook, clean and do laundry for private companies and the U.S. military.
The Labor Department's statistics do not indicate where the contractors' deaths occurred in Iraq, but most were reported by firms whose employees often work outside the Green Zone, such as translators employed by L-3 Communications Titan Corp. who work with soldiers in the field.
Many Iraqis are also drawn to work in the Green Zone, manning shops that cater to the huge pool of contract laborers who eat rich dishes and hummus in the Freedom Cafe and buy whiskey and beer in the two liquor stores serving the area.
A 23-year-old Baghdad native, who asked that his name not be mentioned for fear for his life, manages one of the Green Zone's tobacco shops, which features five enormous hookahs and a floor-to-ceiling humidor full of Cuban cigars that can fetch $200 a box.
"I can get more money working here and it is worth it, despite the danger," the man, dressed in a tan track suit, said on a recent afternoon.
"I've been working here for a year. My wife and family knows, but I tell my friends I work in a grocery store in Karradah," he said, referring to a Baghdad neighborhood just across the Tigris River from the Green Zone.
With the $500 he makes a month, the man said he is able to support his wife and help his father and brother with food and rent. He works 11 hours a day for two weeks, sleeping in quarters behind the tobacco shop, then heads home outside the Green Zone for two days of rest.
Down the road, bundled up against Iraq's cold winter in khaki military cargo pants, a sweater, thick fleece and a stocking hat, the security contractor Miguel counted off the other benefits as his colleagues inspected cars for bombs or contraband.
"I don't have to pay for food, rent, clothing, nothing," he said, thumbing the M-4 rifle slung low across his chest.
"Third-country nationals see it as a good economic opportunity to go work in Iraq. But the public perception is that the U.S. is sort of paying off these people to do the dirty work," Avant said in a telephone interview.
Benjamin, the Indian sandwich maker, said he works 12 hours a day, seven days a week for a six-month stretch. He then spends 15 days off in Kuwait while his Iraqi visa is renewed.
"About four months ago, a mortar hit about five meters (yards) behind our shop," he said. "I was here, everything shook, and I laid down on the floor.
Another day, about 20 mortars hit nearby. "Bap-bap-bap-bap -- everywhere," he said, eyes widening at the memory.
And what about his mother back in India?
"Yes, she is worried, but what to do?" he said. "There are no jobs in India. So I stay here."
[Associated
Press; By BRADLEY BROOKS]
The Associated Press News Research Center in New York contributed to this report.
Copyright 2008 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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