Starting the Squire Program 10/10/14

Things went extremely well my first week out with my trainer. I am now sitting at home, once again because Knight wanted me to be home for family time! I can not say enough how much they are family oriented! I don't care what anyone says, This would be the 2nd time they have paid for my way home to have some family time while I am waiting (trainer had home time so I told them I could stay out with a 2nd trainer and they responded with "its a holiday, go home and spend it with your family! We will not penalize you just because its a holiday!")

Lets see, I had one hell of an experience going through the WV mountains, I got to drive in high winds coming across and through Syracuse down through Buffalo and in to Ohio, and on top of it all seen how there are some mess ups and successful runs! Even with the good and bad, I still managed to get over 3300 miles!!!!

The good thing is since I caught on to the Qualcomm and knew how to drive already, we were able to focus my training on how to work my time management to maximize my miles and how to manage my fuel. It has been one heck of a week and can NOT wait until I get back out there and continue training!!!

 

Alright, so here is an update. I am sitting here at home until Tuesday because my trainer had left to go to another company that runs strictly coast to coast as a team with his fiance. So Now I have to wait for the SE regional manager to get in contact with me because he is on vacation until Tuesday.

So now I will be awaiting another trainer to finish up my training. The good news is I was told this should not affect my test out date of the 17th of December, should be interesting how this plays out. I will keep you guys informed.

 

Alright, so I got a call today. Since my trainer had left Knight on Friday and I test out for my CDL next Thursday it would be pointless to go out with another trainer until than. So I get to stay home with the family another week (paid of course) and enjoy the Christmas parades in our town. Than I will be headed up to the Atlanta terminal on Sunday 12/9 and start practicing for my CDL test on Thursday. I will keep you guys posted.

Hope that everyone had a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving! I know I stuffed my face with a lot of turkey! Stay safe out there everyone!

 

So things have been running okay this week. First off I will say that I passed my CDL test. Now I do want to point out that I had experience from before, and relied heavily this week on my "teaching myself" skills I got from the Army. I will get in to that here in a minute.

Went up to Monroe, GA to take my skills test and passed first time go on everything. I did the driver side door back on the tractor, and than the coupling system for my pre trip (also complete in cab). From there I went on the do the Straight back, right side off set, and 90 degree alley dock. The road course was simple, but a lot to pay attention to because the ladies up there testing will quiz you while you drive on laws and such as well as signs, traffic patterns, "how to do this" type of questions.

Now with Knight (Atlanta terminal ONLY) Things could have went better. I was told that I would be coming up to the terminal to work with a DM that is the "training" guy for the terminal. Well I got up here to be given a truck key, a trailer, and cones and told to work on what I needed practice on. Well having a "do it yourself" background from being a ground pounding leader in the Army, I did so! Googled the measurements of the courses and backing events and set it up for all events. Now the issues I had, was the fact that I was paying for the training and being told I was going up here to "practice and be evaluated to assure I can pass the test" was the issues I had. If I was told that hey go there and work on your own, it would have been one thing.

Well anyways, that was reported up how things went and apparently some people did not know it was going on that way (surprised nobody else said anything). So this leads me to let you guys know IF SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT SPEAK THE HELL UP AND SAY SOMETHING!!!! It will save the next people some headaches!

Now that I have my CDL I report back to orientation on Tuesday. It normally runs Monday - Wednesday, but since I came through with Squire the drug test and physical is already completed. So we are allowed to skip Monday.

From there I have to finish up the remaining 17 days I need of the 28 total of seat time with a trainer and than I am testing out for my own truck!

Now that the ball is moving again (the fun driving part!) I am back in a good mood. Now that the testing is over it feels as if a humungous weight has been lifted off of my shoulders!

So I will do an entire start to finish post of what I think of the CDL prep part of the training up until and through the training 28 days upon completion. Than I will start another thread about my Solo adventures! Really excited to get the move on with this!

 

Alright, getting ready to get on the bus. Since I have already completed the pre-hire drug tests, physical and physical ability test during the Squire training orientation, we get to have today off and just do a 2 day orientation starting tomorrow. Than off to finish up my training. 17 more days left. I get to see if I get paired with a trainer coming out of orientation or wait until after the holidays. I really hope its this week as I want to knock out some of the training days I have left.

 

Well i have been extremely busy.I apologize for not updating this for quite some time. Well where to begin.

Lets see I was assigned my 2nd trainer and finished that up on the 9th of January. I was finally given my own truck and have been running solo since. It has been one hell of an experience. I will say this though, the Squire program is not for the faint of hearts. You have to have a good head on your shoulders and be able to learn on the fly and be able to teach yourself some things after being taught only once or twice. You need to be quick on your feet.

All of these traits have gotten me through this quite safely and quickly. As the original plan did not go as well as I thought it would have been (being in my own truck before Christmas) I am very happy that I am in my own truck now.

I was given a 2013 Volvo 670 that only had 194,000 miles on it. I have ran this thing with loads from 6k lbs, all the way up to 25,960 lbs and this thing hauls like a beast!

The management has been awesome. There were a couple hiccups with my transition from 400/week squire pay to CPM pay, but after the hiccup was fixed this week (3 day mishap) things are on track. I really like the fact that they have daily pay. This allows me to stock pile my loads and still process them all on a weekly basis, but than allows me to be able to get any more "mishaps" the following day rather than waiting for the following pay week.

Besides that I have been running around with loads as little as 220 miles (41 CPM) all the way up to 1,030 miles (32 CPM). I am currently doing my 30k probationary miles. After I have completed my 30k probationary miles, I will than get a 3 CPM raise across the board on my sliding scale.

Any other questions about things please let me know.