BF/GF team heading to millington, TN 2/2/15

Yes I have talked with a recruiter and it looks like I will be going to Millington as well! I still need to get my physical and my permit test done, but should be there around 2/23

 

Are you guys in Memphis yet? They told us before I left that on 2/2, they'd finally be moving the academy to the Memphis terminal. Curious how the new range looks.

As for me, I'm on road training in Greenville, SC. I'm on academic probation because I'm not ready to test at DMV. When they tell you to save your AP road training, they're serious. You will probably need it. My group had 5 minutes a piece of shifting practice driving around the DMV parking lot in Gainesville, GA before being thrust into traffic. The instructor said very few SC students only need one week, because of the difficulty of the road course they have us test on.

 

We're still in Millington. We should be the last class going through the old facilities.

We'll be testing in Gainesville, Ga as well. We're hoping to knock out our pre-trip evals tomorrow. We're both doing fairly well with straight line backing.

You're gonna make me all nervous. I've never driven stick before and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna need more than 5 minutes in a parking lot to feel confident shifting. Any suggestions beyond saving my AP? I'll take all the help I can get.

 

If you're from georgia you'll come to greenville for road training. You sort of have an advantage not having driven stick before. No habits to forget. Double clutching is different from driving a car's manual tranny. As long as you listen to the instructors, you'll be fine. If you can handle moving the trucks on the range, then you'll be fine on the road.

Just memorize your pre-trip. Also memorize the procedures paper they'll give you. It's info about road training. I ended up going home for a week and didn't study either of those things enough. It puts you at a disadvantage when you're not up on them. You're gonna have a lot to concentrate on while driving, so be prepared.

 

I passed my pre-trip eval!!!!

i spent the second half of the day working on skills. Drop and hook was a bit intimidating but I got it first try.

I'm getting pretty awesome at straight line backing.

i managed to coerce the trailer into the box on blind side parallel--but it wasn't pretty. Took 4 pull-ups plus my partner standing by me telling me what was happening behind me. I don't like bending my trailer around enough to get it in the box...I've spent the past two days trying my best to keep it straight! I'll get there...

Regardless of the trailer's intimidation tactics, I had a really fun and productive day. I cannot praise the trainers enough...they really know their stuff AND they know how to pass that knowledge on to nervous newbies.

The only people I'm concerned about failing are a couple of guys who just refuse to listen. They get super frustrated and throw tantrums. The instructors and half the class have tried to help them...they have yet to master straight line backing but they have since moved on to 90. :/

Tomorrow is a classroom day...

 

It has been a busy week!!! I'm absolutely exhausted and ready for a day off (where's that reset when I need it?)

we both passed our backing skill evals. Georgia requires: forward stop, straight line back, left and right offsets, sight and blind side parallels, and 90 degree alley-dock. He passed all 7 skills the first time. I had to retest because I timed out on the offsets (10 minutes total to complete both). I lost sight of the spot my trailer was supposed to go into and never could find it again! I practiced, learned what to do when I get lost, and passed on the second test. My celebration cookie was delicious.

we lost a couple of guys who couldn't keep up with the class. They didn't learn their pretrip material, didn't keep up with their log books, couldn't read maps, and never learned to straight line back...they were completely lost because they didn't bother to put in the effort and learn. This is a very fast-paced class. You have to learn a lot of material in a very short amount of time. Expect to spend long hours learning independently or with a partner. The instructors are amazing, but there are only a few of them and a lot of students. We spent 11 hours per day at the range. The majority of that time is spent with 1 or 2 other classmates figuring things out after watching an instructor demo the procedure. They encourage botched attempts. Learning what doesn't work is a good way to learn what DOES work.

It's getting "late." We get up at 4 every morning to be on the bus at 5. Tomorrow, we start learning to shift...

Also--Hi to my roommate's dad! She's already asleep...