Great pictures Neil.
CHEERS NEIL AS THE OTHERS HAVE ALL READY SAID GREAT PICTURES; TAKE IT EASY :
Niel enjoying this ongoing post no end, your looking cool as a cool thing being extremly cool 
,or are you {like Chris Kristopherson} the duck, paddleling like the devil below 
very interesting pics neil thanks.
Great Pics Neil.really brings it home here we are all moaning about this, that and the other, never happy but at least we don’t have to live in conditions like that. Puts our pampered lifestyle in perspective I think.
Look forward to your report, take car,
Incidentally do you need to wear flacks all the time?
I bet at 8/9 t/row morning that donkey and cart will be going faster than most of us 
Very interesting and exotic pictures too 
Ben
Have you not seen any Willi Betz or Iran, Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania lorries around Middle East
Did not think this post would still be on here but to be honest first time on here for a long time.
Just started my 3rd year in Afghanistan.
neil46:
Did not think this post would still be on here but to be honest first time on here for a long time.Just started my 3rd year in Afghanistan.
Good to hear from you and good to know you are okay.
but start a new page if you repost your adventures
Hi Neil, glad to know you looked after yourself, when i started reading about your exploits, i didnt look to see how many pages there were, or even the date. I often wanted to post, but didnt seem to be able to get a word in edgeways 
Anyway, here we are in 2012, and your still at it, and i have just finished reading your posts, all 15 pages, in one go, and it was like getting hold of a good book, and not being able to put it down, although i dont, and cant read books, thats because i find them boring, i would rather read a magazine, cos i can only digest small pieces at a time.
I found your style of writing very interesting, and the photos and captions amusing, so i wait with anticipation the next few chapters.
I was wondering about the security of using a laptop, and whether it was against regulations or security, much the same for photographs.
Are you still working for the same company ?
I notice your in Afghanistan now, and i would imagine a lot more dangerous, is it?
Put my name down for a job there, as i want to bash the little mucker who threw a brick at my windscreen, and shattered it, ha ha just outside Kabul, he had a black curly hair, and a sheet for a coat, and was called Ali…if you see him, deck him, he would be about 47 yrs old now…ha ha
Good luck Neil, God bless ya, stay safe, dont take risks, and hopefully we can speak again soon.
Best Regards
Trucky, ( bob )
truckyboy:
Put my name down for a job there, as i want to bash the little mucker who threw a brick at my windscreen, and shattered it, ha ha just outside Kabul, he had a black curly hair, and a sheet for a coat, and was called Ali…if you see him, deck him, he would be about 47 yrs old now…ha ha
)
Not that you hold a Grudge 
Looking forward to more posts Neil, be cool
well here i am back again after another trip
have tried to do a better report for you this time although nowhere near as good as coffeeholic or rob k or the others but hope you enjoy anyway.
THURSDAY MAY 19TH IRAQI EXPRESS ANACONDA
TRUCK NO. ST 605
START MILEAGE 37457
WESTERN DRIVERS.
HEYDEN HOWELLS GBR (CONVOY SUPERVISOR)
GRAHAM (CROOKY)CROOK (GBR)
PETER(WOOLEY)TAPP (GBR)
MICK MURRAY (AUS)
NEIL GIBBS (GBR)
Got told last night i was on express as convoy supervisor but said
heyden my roomate should do it as he has not done it before.
We got the bus from outside the apt at 8am this morning and went
off to the truck yard which is about 30mins away.we get the paperwork
for the truck and check it over esp the aircon.we then go off and see
Omar who is in charge of the ration tent.
We left about 9am and arrived at Camp Arifjan about 9.45am where
we dropped our empty trailers and hooked up to the ones we were
taking and which were already strapped up although some needed
redoing. Total mileage 17km
We arrived at the exit at 11am and waited till 11.15am for our police
■■■■■■ which you need as you have to go via the military convoy
route through the kuwait oil fields.after getting rid of the police
■■■■■■ we stopped at the local supermarket so the TCN,s could
stock up on food and as i hadnt been in there before took a look
around.it was just like arkwrights shop out of Open All Hours.
We arrived at Camp Navistar and fueled up then went and staged
in what we call the chicken coop parking area.finally switched off
engine at 14.15 after a trip of 183km from Camp Arifjan.the temp
at that time was 48c.
Tried to play golf on computer but was so tired after a long day lol
that i went off to sleep and the next thing i knew it was 04.45am the
next day.
END MILEAGE 37657
FRIDAY 20TH MAY
START MILEAGE 37657
As i said earlier i woke up early and decided to go off for a shower
the temp then was already 34c.i came back to the truck and apart
from the TCN,s no one else was up till about 6am.
Wooley knocked and asked if i was going to breakfast so we left
the others asleep and went to the DFAC.
The others were up when we got back so they went off themselves
while i phoned my other roomate to see if he had soreted the internet
out in our apt but he had been sent on a convoy to Camp Tallil
so look like no internet for the moment till he gets back so this
might be late coming to you.
The tempat 09.00 was 45c and at 10.45 was 50c as you can see
in the pic phew.
The army trucks had turned up about 9ish that were going with us
and they said the gun trucks would not be here till gone 12 as one
broken down.
AT 11.30am four of us decided to go to lunch and wooley would
phone when the escorts turned up.anyway we were just walking
back when he phoned saying army were moaning as they were
here and ready to go sods law we wait hours sometimes for them.
anyway we got going and reached the 1st checkpoint when a new
guard sais our driver manifests that we hand in should be stamped
we said no as we are DOD,s much humming and harring he let
us go which is what we were gonna do anyway.
We got through the border with no kids about to throw rocks or
try and get in side boxes of trailers and were soon on our way
thatswhen we found out one of the army trucks had to drop a
container at Camp Tallil and we had to wait at Camp Cedar
which we got to at 17.00 hrs this all took 3 hours which
was a pain as it meant less sleep at Camp Scania which we
were heading for.mileage to
Cedar 222km Temp at 17.00 48c.
We left Cedar at 20.15 and picked up the army truck out on
the road and set off and arrived at Camp Scania at 23.30
we fueled up and went for a quick coffee as we were leaving at
09.00 in the morning.Temp was 30c mileage was 204km.
END MILEAGE 38083 TOTAL THAT DAY 426KM.
SATURDAY 21st MAY
START MILEAGE 38083
Woke up at 7am crooky knocked to see if i was going to breakfast
but i said i was going for a shower first.Took stuff back to truck
and went for brekky at 07.50 which i didnt really enjoy.We were
leaving at 09.00 and were going by Bismark which is probably
the most dangerous route we can take it is where my flatmate
got ambushed and you have to go through several built up
areas.
We finally left at 10 am with the temp at 34c and only got about
2km out of the camp when a TCN had his load slip due to the
fact that most of the US camps have really rough roads in them.
We got him sorted about 10.30am where the temp had shot up
to 41c and we hit the first small town about 15mins later.luckily
we had an extra gun truck as this town is notorious for kids
throwing rocks but we passed by with just a cple of TCN,s
getting stoned resulting in a cple of windscreens with holes in them.
We stopped a cple of times for a quick rest stop and managed
to get through the major town without incident including going
past where my mate was ambushed the remnants of the lorry
they blew up still on the side of the road.
After we arrived at Ancaconda at about we got unloaded pretty
quick for a change and set about getting reloaded straight away
with aircraft pallets of used junk which has to be shipped back
to the USA.
Crooky decided not to hang about and help strap down rather
he went off to the PX which really annoyed us all as we are all
supposed to help each other so our feelings were made known
to him for which he apologised for.we went and fueled up then
staged for the night near DFAC4 and went off to dinner with
heyden and mick.
Got hold of a copy of STARS and STRIPES and returned to
the truck to read before retiring for the night as we were leaving
at 06.30 in the morning and i wanted to get up early for a shower
then some breakfast.
TOTAL MILEAGE 315
END MILEAGE 38398
START MILEAGE 38083
SUNDAY 22ND MAY
START MILEAGE 38398
I got up at 04.30 and knocked heyden up as he wanted a shower
as well then we went off for breakfast.the temp at 06.15 was 27c.
turns out we are going back via bismark so no relaxing for the
first couple of hours.stopped on the way for some loose loads
just after we got over pontoon as the road is terrible potholes
all over the place.once again no problems on way back although
we did get held up at a checkpoint for 10mins which was a bit
daunting as we were among a lot of civilian vehicles as well.
As the guntrucks are limited for fuel we stopped outside Camp
Scania so they could fill up and as usual all the ■■■ and souveneir
sellers appeared out of nowhere trying to sell their wares.the army
just push them to one side but even they buy off of them so its
like a daily ritual to all concerned.
TEMP AT 12.50 43C
MILEAGE 298
We left Scania at 13.40 and arrived at Camp Cedar about 14.30
where we filled up then staged for the night.we went off for dinner
with the temp at 48c.got back to truck as we had to be ready in
morning at 04.30 for trip back to kuwait and unloading.
MILEAGE 202KM
END MILEAGE 38906
START MILEAGE 38398
DAYS TOTAL 508
SUNDAY 23RD MAY
START MILEAGE 38906
TEMP 30C AT 04.00
Woke up at 03.00 and decided to walk over to shower blocks
which they keep swapping around for no apparent and got back
to truck at 04.10.decided to wake the drivers up for heyden then
got him up as well.army turned up and we chewed the fat for a while
then went to the little shed that opens at 04.30 for coffee and snacks
all free courtesy of the US ARMY.
We left at 05.00 and had a good run to the border where we were
pulled in as usual by the kuwait customs who are only doing it to
annoy the army and we sat around for over an hour before they
came out and the check on my truck took about 30 seconds
then we went and parked on the south convoy staging area to
wait until we were all done before seting off to Arifjan to unload.
Due to the amount of trucks in convoy we had to pick up a police
■■■■■■ about 40kms inside kuwait to take us through to the camp
but for a change they were pretty quick.got to the camp about 11.45
unstrapped all the loads and waited to be called to unload which
took about another hour.Finally i got tipped and made my way back
to HL5 and waited for the others to turn up and we finally got back
to apt about 15.30 where we just collapsed before sorting our stuff
out.
MY LOAD
MY ROOMATE AND CONVOY SUPERVISOR ON TRIP
ME HARD AT WORK PLAYING GOLF ON LAPTOP
JUST SOME MODERN TRUCKS IRAQI STYLE
HOW THEY CARRY THE HAY
BROKEN DOWN TRUCK ON ROAD AHEAD
FAMILY OUTING
IRAQS ANSWER TO QUICK FIT
CALL ME A CAB
ANOTHER MODERN TRUCK
CONVOY COMMANDER
IS IT A BETZ
NEVER GOT HIS HANDS DIRTY
SOME GUYS HAVE ALL THE LUCK
HOPE YOU ENJOYED
NEIL46
I FORGOT A PIC
TOP READ NEIL
I find your posts along with Coffees and Truckyboys the most entertaining and interesting reads on here , keep up the good work guys
except it brings home to me even more the fact that punching an artic around G.B. IS SO KING BORING
still pays the bills I suppose 
Neil,thanks for the latest report and your pictures that you took . very nice
and the oldie mercedes with the bonnet was nice to see,
take care of yourself mate, and from the tempture readings on your gauge
keep on useing the 75sun blocker , cheers take care once again,
Nice report and pics.
Have you had a military background?
Also do you eat with the us army.
Thanks
No Brit Pete been a coward all my life always a civvy
Yes we eat in the same chow hall as the army.
sorry brit mark i meant
Very good Diary and excellent EX - Betz Actros pictures
Cheers Ben