Also, people here do not realize:<p>An IT contractor (presumably for ITT, at that low salary) is working at a helpdesk on a big base.  The contact with locals is almost zero.  You'll encounter a lot of interesting third country nationals (filipinos, indians, etc.) working on base, but that's about it.  Mainly, you will be dealing with other Americans (military or contractor.<p>It's basically the most boring helpdesk job possible in a boring environment.<p>The "contact with local culture" is "local vendor sets up a shop on base selling overpriced carpets and camel figurines".<p>If you just want contact with an exotic culture, go backpacking in India/Nepal/Indonesia/etc.<p>The only reason for defense contracting in 2010 is money, and "seeing what the military is like up close" (I thought it was much more homogenous and omnipotent than it turned out to be.  I'm not sure if I like it more or less now)