Earl- didn't you know that old truck came with a speed brake? We were a very technically advanced army when those came out.... Actually the big quibble I had with all those trucks - 21/2, 5 ton - was those useless tires. Those old trucks were really rugged - I flew a 21/2 ton once - north of Harrison Lake - I was hurrying to catch up to the rest of a convoy - and driving the "oiler" 2 1/2 ton and hauling the fuel trailer - the road was smooth except at the approaches to one bridge approached by a blind turn. The first bump shook loose the fire-extinguishers and one went right under the wheel - I held it until I got across the bridge but the road went left and right and I went straight- landing at some ridiculous angle on the scree slope. Well, when I came-to having struck my head - the first thought was, I'm alive, the second, the truck is still running, the third, after falling out of the cab - the trailer is attached, the fourth, the tires are still inflated. I levered up-right all the drums of gas in the back, levered away the rocks under the truck and spent an hour or so backing and forwarding until I could get it down the slope and then up and out onto the road again - err... it would have been nice if the truck had power steering.... Before leaving, I walked back and picked up the damaged fire extinguishers and threw them in the back. Later that day, when back in the convoy of bowsers from the logistics battalion and with my boss who had spent his day fishing and soaking in one of those hotsprings, climbing up some really steep hill, the fire extinguishers let go. The fellow in front was frantic as he thought I was on fire. The fellow in the back the same, but I realized the smoke was white.. and darned if I was going to stop halfway up that hill. The poor guy in front was really hyperventilating by then as I didn't stop and I was laughing to beat the band. Those trucks.... tough. I supposed this story would have had a different ending if it happened at the beginning of that trip, as I was hauling a trailer of explosives and in a stretch of narrow road cutting north of some emerald coloured lake -which was way down the scree slope, I encountered head -on a full loaded logging truck - I had been waved through by the military police controlling that spot you see. It was the only time I'd ever seen a logging truck put on his brakes for me - but then if we'd hit, we would have taken out the mountain side.