A nice little local for you then mate.
Have a good one. 
Brilliant Neil. Keep well mate. that experience canāt be bought anywhere. good luck.
Ladytrucker679:
gorgeousload:
be interested to know what the Yanks are really like
You donāt have to go far to find out what americans are like. Go to truck.net and it will pretty much sum things up for you. some are alright but there is an over abundance of know it alls, antagonists, and over bearing people. not to mention the whining and self centeredness. In my experience, brits are a lot more fun to be around than americans, at least a bit more pleasant.
You wait till Kate Hasler gets her teeth into that one, we will all be running for cover Iraq will be the safe option! 
[/quote]
How did I get such a bad reputation around here? 
I know I make a lot of comments about the anti-American statements put on hereā¦ the generalizations and derrogatory comments made by people who donāt know what theyāre talking about are enough to drive me nutsā¦ and lets face itā¦ its fun to wind you guys up sometimes! BUT to be perfectly honestā¦ I completely agree with gorgeousload. Almost all of my close friends are Englishā¦ I get along better with the British than I do with Americans. They are more fun, more relaxed, friendlier by nature, and I seem to have alot more in common with them. That doesnāt mean that the UK doesnt have its share of antagonists, whiners, egotistsā¦and God knows even the best Brit can be the most ethnocentric person in the worldā¦ But if I had to choose whether to spend my time with an American or a Britā¦ Iād choose a Brit any day of the weekā¦ hands down!
But one more pointā¦ I donāt think trucknet USA is good place to go to find out what typical Americans are likeā¦ they arenāt exactly a good representation of real peopleā¦ and not who Iād want representing me as an American.
So there blows your theory ladytruckerā¦ I just love you guys!
Neil, very good pictures, must be very exciting. Have you found out what colour adrenalin is yet ā ā ?
Can we expect a book to accompany the series ā ā ?
Keep safe.
well guys and girls i am back again safe and sound.my local i did turned into a 27hr day thanks to the army turning up 4 and half hrs late then we had to wait for all the stuff to come in by military hovercraft from the ships out in the bay and then we had escorts in the trucks as we had mail and ammo in amongst us and also coaches full of marines coming in for their tour of duty.got back to apt at 7am next day slept till 17.30 woke up and turned company phone off so they couldnt get me out the next day
on this local we also had 2 sth african drivers arrested by kuwaiti police for taking pics of hovercrafts so they had to be handed over to US MP,s and we dont think they will be long for this job.
just arrived back from a 7 day mission which had a little bit of excitement in it but will tell you later about that and some more pics esp for the people who like to see unusual trucks.
best wishes
neil
Another good post Neil, look forward to the picās and the follow up.
Be good!, or careful, whichever.
neil. first off hello nice to hear from you after your local trip with the norm
as it goes for any thing to do with being punctual,so now we have it confirmened our hoverkraft from dover has leased its self out to the us
govt as a ferry service ( no i am only joking) PLEASE don,t let us wait too
long as you can see your reports are eagerly awaited by one and all here.
all the best neil brit-pete.
Phenomenal pictures!!!
I take my hat off to you Neil, I would relish the experience but I havenāt the balls anymoreā¦! The wife saw to that!!!
havent forgot to post report but been a bit busy last cple of days will do it tomorrow
yes folks its me again having to write about 2 missions cos i was busy last time so here goes.
1st one was march 3rd got up at 3.00am as the bus to the truck yard goes at 4am from outside the apt. 
the CS was a british guy called steve he had just come back from 6 weeks injury after being blown up by an IED.
he had got some 2way radios he got from argos so we could keep in touch.
we got to CAMP ARAFJAN to find the loads werent strapped down as they should be so we wasted time doing those. 
i was lead truck which made a change but also daunting as only an army truck and gun truck in front so more chance of hitting IED at least at back more trucks to hit them first.
we stopped over night at CAMP NAVISTAR just on border till the morning.
next day we left at 9.30am pretty uneventful trip apart from losing a few boxes of rubbish bags from load but you dont stop if things fall off
as we were passing another convoy the front gun trucks steering arm came off and nearly flipped but soon got it sorted.
we stopped at CAMP SCANIA for the night and took the TCN,s to the DFAC then back to truck for sleep as we went off at 4am next morning.
got up at 2am went for shower then into a refreshment tent called JOES CAFE in memory of a soldier who died.
left at 4am but only did about an hr when army green had flat so waited for that to be done.
when we got onto main highway in baghdad a TCN got hit by a RPG which didnt go off but he hit the truck in front ripping his passenger door off and sent him sailing across 3 lanes then central reservation across 3 more lanes then jackknifed around a pylon blocking road on opp side.
i was front truck again so couldnt get pic of it esp the tank which tried to pull it free.however as you can see from the pics it was chaos with 6 or more lanes of traffic from both directions on just 3 lanes then trying to go through gap in reservationto pass us.we were there for over an hour with hundreds of iraqis within touching distance.
there was 2 side roads which trucks were trying to use which they could as long as they paid the iraqi police/security forces a bung to get past.
anyway after we set off we reached the area where we always get stoned which is by a row of shops 
and sure enough we did i was lucky the rock hit the sun visor but 3 trucks behind got the screens smashed with one rock hitting driver in chest but he had flakjacket on so he just got bruising.
anyway we finally got to CAMP ANACONDA unloaded then i had to go off and pick up 2 bobtails on trailer then we parked up for the night. didnt need to go to bed early as we werent leaving till 6.30pm the following night and going back via route GOLDEN which was a new route to me.
we left on time in the dark and nearly missed turning but was ok the only thing was it turned out when we hit a single track road part of it was covered by sand drifts and we found out later that we actually ran past no less than 7 IED,s and they closed that route after we went through .
we got back to CAMP SCANIA about 00.30am and went to bed got woke up at 8am next day to help a driver pick up 2 more bobtails.
just outside the camp is a HAJI market so went off and got bootleg dvd,s only $5 off to the DFAC for lunch and dinner leaving at 9am the next day.
while i was there i had something i hadnt had since i was 12yrs old
A NO1 HAIRCUT
we left ok and got back to CAMP NAVISTAR where we stopped for the night left in the morning back to truck yard and got back to apt about 11am another mission under my belt.
now for my last trip which was to BIAP or baghdad international airport to give it its full name. 
there was only 4 expats and 40 TCN,s which was split into 2 groups me and ian from the USA and steve and aussie dave with the other and it turned out they had the best escorts as ours were useless if it wasnt for me and ian running the cars off the road i dont know what would have happened
This trip we didnt have to leave from apt till 5 so a lie in when we got to CAMP ARAFJAN they would not let me in as i did not have the pass for there so went back to truck yard till others had loaded then met them on route.
we stopped at CAMP NAVISTAR for the night and left at 5am in morning quiet run until we came across this it had been hit by an RPG about 30mins previous.
after getting past that we arrived at BIAP and ended up sitting there for 3 days but at least we could see one of SADDAMS PALACES as you can see here.
the airport is civilian and you could just see the IRAQI AIRLINE planes on tarmac but you have to clear with military if you want to land there.
when we finally left at 11am on the third day we headed for SCANIA but at first we were not stopping there but in the end they relented otherwise it would have been a long day esp after army green ran into back of truck and we sat for 3hrs while they sorted it.
while at SCANIA we had trouble with a TCN pestering a female soldier so we had to sort that out and he got sack when we got back.
we left at 5am next day to stop at CEDAR for load but because our second convoy had passed us they took all loads that were there so we went back empty
we got to border town and kids were throwing rocks so i sped up the inside horn blowing and dust everywhere to protect the trailer boxes which they open to steal the chains and straps got 3 rocks for my troubles one hitting bottom corner of windscreen and sending slivers of glass into cab.
got stopped at customs which took about 45mins to clear then we sent off the trucks 5 at a time back to yard and we finally got back to apt about 11pm.
now for some more pics
this was 3 days later
yes he was asleep
this wrecker was called the CHIEF and had english number plates
Thanks Neil, really interesting read, even though you run the gauntlet I bet you would not miss the experience for the world?
Interesting read and photos neil46
As always Neil, excellent!!
Am I being thick?? What is TCN?
Was that one of āyour lotsā trucks that got RPGād and was burnt out?
34 degrees!!! Do you have aircon??
Take care, mate.
sorry should have explained TCN,S are drivers from third COUNTRY nations
I.E. pakistan,indian,bangladesh,egypt,indonesia,phillipines and south africa.
yes the trucks have aircon
neil46:
sorry should have explained TCN,S are drivers from third COUNTRY nationsI.E. pakistan,indian,bangladesh,egypt,indonesia,phillipines and south africa.
yes the trucks have aircon
So youāre saying a āTCNā from your group got fried by an RPG ?
Thatās a bit [zb] scarey - could have quite easily been you
Didnāt look like he got out alive looking at the remains either
no he was from a different company and he did get out alive as the RPG hit the trailer.
neil46:
no he was from a different company and he did get out alive as the RPG hit the trailer.
What if heād been a second later and it had hit the cab ?
this is true but we are surprised that they hit it at all cos they aint very good shots
neil46:
this is true but we are surprised that they hit it at all cos they aint very good shots
neil46:
this is true but we are surprised that they hit it at all cos they aint very good shots
i bet your quite happy about that neil arent you .
KEEP YER ARSE DOWN MAN