by David Phinney
Thursday March 28th 2024

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Mother works to memorialize contractor son slain in Iraq
THOMAS J. SHEERAN
Associated Press
BRATENAHL, Ohio – While the nation pauses on Memorial Day to honor its war dead, Donna Zovko works to keep alive the memory of her son, who was killed in Iraq while serving as a civilian contractor.
She wants him and other contractors to be remembered along with the fallen members of the nation’s military.
“On my Jerry’s headstone there’s no `contractor’,” said Donna Zovko, whose son, Jerko “Jerry” Zovko, 32, was killed in a March 31, 2004, ambush with three civilian colleagues in Fallujah. Their mutilated bodies were burned and two were hung from a bridge.
Jerry Zovko, an Army veteran, was working for Pentagon contractor Blackwater USA hauling food to American troops. His mother likes to think of him as a comrade in arms to U.S. Troops even though he was working for a civilian contractor.
“How will Americans treat or remember my son as a contractor that was killed?” she asked. “It’s their choice, but he was there to protect our freedom and to help the Iraqis. He was not there for the money.”
Zovko has waged a high-profile campaign for tighter oversight of military contractors, appearing in a documentary film, “Iraq for Sale: the War Profiteers,” and testifying before a congressional committee Feb. 7.

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One Response to “contractors”

  1. Zay says:

    Well, the bigger qstueion is what are his skills. If he’s going to be a plumber, repair guy, roofer, sales consultant, logistics consultant, then he needs some talent.It’s actually a lot easier than it sounds. Just start offering your services. Let’s say he’s going to be a gardener. Again, we have no idea what he’s good at since you didn’t tell us. He can make up a few fliers on the computer. Print them out at Kinkos or at home, and then walk around the neighborhood and pass them out. People will call. Eventually it starts slow but people aren’t that discriminatory against new businesses. If you say you can do it some of them will just trust that you can and give you the opportunity. Before you know it you have some credentials to back up your claim and you’re off the ground. Just takes hard work and persistence.

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