THE BRITISH ARE COMING !
This is a British Military Truck, we picked it up in Camp LeJeune, North Carolina and took it to Twenty-nine Palms, California. This was one of those loads that you wished had never happened. It took all day to get it loaded. Why, you ask?...Because there were a couple dozen different trucking firms there loading also. So, we all had to wait our turn to get our loads. We finally got our truck tied down and papers in hand about 3:00 p.m., we had been there since 6:00 a.m. Fortunatly for us our load was legal size, which meant we could drive anytime, day or night.
Do you realize the flack we took coming across the United States of America with this British truck on our trailer??? I can't even begin to tell you all that was said, (by way of CB) or shown, (by way of finger gestures). The American public is just beginning to awaken to the fact that we have foreign troops on our soil. And I can personally tell you they don't like it in a big way!!
We got hassled at every truck stop and rest area that we stopped at. We wound up not even turning on the CB and rode most of the way with our FM radio blaring, ignoring the honks and the universal sign language that was waived our way. The worst part of the trip was when we stopped at the Giant Truckstop in Gallup, New Mexico. While we were inside eating our dinner, someone graffitied the side of the British truck with a black felt marker and tore off the hatch cover on the top of the cab. In the picture above, you can see sky through the top of the cab, that is where the hatch cover was. You can't really see the graffiti in the picture, but you can imagine what was written.
Well, we felt horrible about this, but we couldn't do much except inform the police and our trucking firm and hope the Britains wouldn't be to upset. When we got to the other end and the British Officers and their Service Men saw the condition of the truck, they told us not to worry, they get a lot of this and they have a special solution to clean off the marker with and that they could get another hatch cover. They acted like it was an every day occurrence with them. We were extremely relieved that they didn't hold us responsible for the damages.
I am appalled and very un-nerved at the common public's actions. Yes, I agree they have a right to be upset that we have foreign troops on our soil, but, they should look at the situation we were in and ask themselves this...would you like for someone to damage one of your loads?? How would you feel if a load, any load, was entrusted into your hands and someone took it upon themselves to damage it just because they didn't like it? What the American public needs to know is that we have a small contingent of every known foreign troop in the world on American soil and that they have been slowly moving in for the last 10 years. None of this should be a total surprise to the average citizen that keeps up on foreign affairs. And if you are reading this and still don't believe it, then take a look around the next Military Base you go on....everything is not what it seems!!! If you don't like this fact and you can't handle the sight of foreign military vehicles being hauled across the United States, then take up your beef with your Senator and Congressman, but don't just take it upon yourself to do the same mischief that someone did to us...it's not right.