My Swiftie Life...

Day 5,6 - These 2 days are identical. Wake up before the rooster's and get on the shuttle. The first 2 hours or so are spent going over the pre-trip. Grab a partner or two and a pointing stick and pick a truck. There wont be enough time for all of you to go through the pre-trip so you will have to go over it together. My advice is to go over the truck outside quickly with one person. Spend most of your time doing the in-cab inspection and performing/practicing the 6 step Air Brake Test. You can go over the other stuff in your room or while waiting your turn to straight line. Use that time in the morning to practice Air Brake, trust me.


Day 7 - It's now Sunday and the terminal is a ghost town. Most of the employee's are gone and we were back in the classroom with the classroom instructor. Again this is where I had an issue with the training. We spent the entire day watching videos about swift and their policies. How to lift a box correctly. What does SWIFT stand for. Crap that didn't pertain to obtaining your CDL. I even raised my hand and asked how this information even matters at this point. "If we don't pass the Academy and pass our DMV Evaluation, what good is knowing what SWIFT stands for and how to lift a box? I'm confused, shouldn't this be given during orientation? Shouldn't this time be spent on passing our Pre-Trip that we are being evaluated tomorrow?" I was informed from the instructor that she is preparing us to become a Swift Driver and want to get us ready for when we do pass our CDL. Yea ok... I was then informed from a few of my classmates that I was being negative and to just listen. I wasn't trying to be negative, I was trying to be realistic, but whatever. I quietly studied my Pre-Trip information while she gave out the useless information. Here is another tip for passing the Pre-Trip Evaluation. Take out some paper and write down every step of that Pre-Trip. Visualize that truck and write down every step. Then grade yourself with the hand out they give you and compare what you missed. That really helped me. This is what I did while she read from a binder and showed video's. End of the day.

Day 8 - Your Day Off. Yay!

Day 9 - Pre-Trip evaluation day. Again we spent the morning 2-3 hours going over the steps. The instructors called each one of us to go through the Pre-Trip. Long story short about 50% passed, thankfully I was one of them. The rest were given another chance later that afternoon. The part that made almost everyone failed was what? The Air Brake Test... So practice the #### out of that when given the chance. Only one person didn't pass and was put on that Academic Probation and sent back a week to join the class after us. We had lunch and move on the the next phase. "Skills" The instructors did a demo of each of the skills we had to due and again would be evaluated on each of them to move on to "Road Training". These skills were (Off-Set, Parallel,Straight Line Backing) After they did a demo of each we jumped in the trucks (3 per truck) and were given a demo on shifting around the range area. Basically a big circle around the parking/backing exercise area that you would practice up and down shifts. A few of us go to do a lap, but we ran out of time. Class ended.

Continued...

 

Day 10 - Got the Academy and practiced Pre-Trip until sun came up, about 2 hours. Then we started our skills and shifting. Basically 2/3 per truck, they had 4 trucks to be used in this part. You would then take turns. One person would complete the course which included all 3 skills and one lap around, and then switch. You will do this + Pre-Trip in the morning's all day for the next 4 days, over and over. It's pretty easy and fun. Just listen and do what they tell you to do and they truck does the rest. The will give you certain things to look for while doing the parking. Do what they say and you will have no problems. You will be evaluated for Skills on Saturday.

Day 11,12,13,14 - These days are identical. Only difference on Friday you can be evaluated if you feel ready. If you fail you can try again on Saturday. If you do your evaluation on Saturday you will be evaluated in the morning and if fail, you will can try again that afternoon. If you fail this evaluation? Yep you guessed it. Academic Probation and sent back 1 week. As for me I chose to be tested on Friday and thankfully nailed it. I got to enjoy my Saturday with no stress and helping the others get the recipe down. You have to do all 3 skills and can only miss 13 points or something in total. You cannot hit any cones, go outside or touch the yellow lines, that includes mirrors. Everyone passed. I enjoyed this part of the training the most. Shifting was fun, and I felt proud driving the truck around the range. It gave me a sense of freedom and pride knowing that I had done what I needed to do to be in this truck driving around the range with no instructor inside. The instructors were also very cool. They were new instructors that only taught the skills section of the program.

Day 15 - Sunday... Day Off. Oh Yea!!!

Day 16 - Road Training Begins. Oh man was I nervous. "You mean to tell me I am going to drive this massive ####ing thing around on the streets now?" Baby Jesus help us all!!! ha-ha . Again new set of instructors for this section and 2/3 per truck. I think 6 trucks were used. The instructor gave us a few rules and we were off. Bring some money with you because you wont be back to the terminal till the end of the day. You will take breaks and lunches at truck stops/gas stations. You can eat and drink in the road training trucks, but not the range trucks. We drove out to some highway that was pretty quite. It still had people driving on it, but not very man. It was a long straight highway where we went up and down shifting through all the gears. In the range you can only shift 2-4 gears and cannot touch the accelerator at all. It was nice to be able to finally press the fuel pedal and hear the turbo spool up. The trucks were 9 speed transmissions and you needed to get the hang of double clutching and using the range selector. The range selector is what tells the transmission to use its higher gears (4+). It takes a while but you will get the hang of it. Learn this the best you can on this day because you will need to have your shifting down pretty good the next few days when they bring you back into the city. So the whole day is going up and down this long highway reaching 55+ MPH, going through all the gears, and then once reach 55mph, you slow down back through the gears till you hit 5-10 mph in 2nd gear. Then back up, over and over while taking turns. The instructor will have one person drive back to the terminal where you will get a small taste of what's to come. Also while in Road Training you will continue your Paper Logs.

Continued...

 

Day 17 - This time the student will leave the terminal. The instructor will also have you go over the Air Brake Test to see if you have it down. This day is spent in a rural part of the city. Where you will be introduced to more traffic, stop signs, farming equipment, 2 lane roads, Left and Right hand turns. This is where your shifting that you practiced the day before comes into play. You will also be introduced to what they call "Commentary Driving". This is probably the most difficult for some, but later you will come to find out it really helps you be aware of your truck and environment. Basically you will have to tell the instructor everything you see. For example: (I see a 45 MPH speed limit sign I am currently going 40 MPH. I see a stale green light up ahead, proceeding with caution. Hazards on my right. Car pulling out to my left. Blue truck overtaking me on me left. 4th gear range selector up shifting to 5th gear.) All these types of things are called "Commentary Driving". Think of it like this. If you see something you say it. Anything and everything that pops into your head and seen with your eyes, you need to say it. This will be part of your Road Training Evaluation and actual DMV test so you better get over that shyness real fast. You will do this type of driving all day in the rural area and drive back to terminal.

Day 18 - City driving. Probably one of the most stressful time of the program. Your driving in really heavy traffic. Jumping on/off the freeway. School Zones. Dealing with traffic lights and pedestrians, buses, ect. There is no room for error here. You must do your commentary driving while ensuring you are not hitting anything or anyone and shifting properly. Did I forget to mention if you have one accident or hit anything during the entire process you will be removed from the Academy? That includes when you are at the terminal on the range. So no pressure or anything ok? Take your time and use your space. If your are making a left turn, hug the right as much as possible to give yourself the room you need to make the turn. Use your mirror's! They are your best friend. Take deep breathes and try and relax. You will be make it through this and be back to your family in no time. Listen to the instructors every word of advice and trust him/her. You will do this all day and it gets easier as day goes on. You will drive back to terminal and end your day.

Day 19 - The morning part of this day is spent going over the actual route for your DMV Road Test. The instructor will drive the route first and walk you through it. Then its your turn. You will take turns going through the route and practice that commentary driving and your shifting. You need to ensure you have shifting down pretty good at this point because if you grind or if your not in a gear for to long you will lose points when it come time to test with the DMV tester. At lunch time you will be evaluated on the Road Test. Think of it as a practice run for the big day tomorrow when you test for your CDL. The instructor will give you the details and record you as you go. They will not say anything to help you. They will only provide directions on where to go and you must do the best you can to do everything you were taught. You cannot hit any curbs, or you that will automatically fail you, so take your time and your commentary driving that you have practiced this whole time will really help you. Don't forget what gear your in and talk it out. That's the best thing you can do. If you pass you can test out with the DMV tester the following day. If fail you will be re-tested in the morning and be given the chance to take the DMV test that afternoon.

Last Day - This is it! The moment you have waited almost 3 weeks for. Don't let your nerves get to you. Do what you were taught and take your time. The test takes about 1.5 hours or so. You will start by going over your entire Pre-Trip with the tester. If you mess up you fail and game over. If you pass you will move on to the Skills Section. If you fail game over. If you pass you move on to the Road Test. Same deal, if you fail game over try again, or you pass and you pull into that terminal with one o the biggest smiles of your life.
They will hand you a envelope and you will take that to the person that did your contracts. She will set you up with bus ticket back home (longest ride of your life), and an instructor will take you to the DMV to turn in your scores. Congratulations you are now considered a "Professional Driver"!

Conclusion - Other than the few gripes I mentioned above. The Academy was actually good. They showed me exactly what I needed to obtain my CDL. Nothing less, nothing more. I feel they could have done alot more to help you pass the permit part, but the reality is that part if up to you to be focused enough to actually study the material. If I was to do it all over again, the only thing I would really change would be the permit part. I would have studied the book on my own and went to the DMV to get the permit before going to the Academy. The motel wasn't the worst, but definitely wasn't the best. Thankfully I never got put with 3 other people in my room, or I might be signing another tune. I thank Swift for giving me the opportunity to not pay upfront to go to the Academy and thank them for providing me a job after I graduated.

My next post will regarding Orientation and the Mentor phase (which I am currently on). There have been some ups and downs, but I will go over that when my feelings in my hands return to me after writing this post.

Until then... stay safe everyone, and run like there's no tomorrow!

Good Night and One Love.

 

Graduated @ Phoenix, AZ

Thanks for the info, but yea done with PC's for now. Thought I would come out here to try something new. Figured I would have a lot of time to think if IT is really for me anymore. I like it so far, just can't wait to go solo or maybe team with a classmate of mine from the same town. We are undecided to do teams or go solo when done with our mentor's.

Yep ABQ is my home terminal. I was going to say Breaking Bad Eh? but (icsheeple) beat me to it. Great name by the way. Love it, IC.

 

Im back on the road with my mentor, trying to finish my hours of training. Bare with me as I might not have the chance to update quickly. Ill share the weed now though.

The weed story -
When I was on the awesome greyhound bus there was a guy sitting in the back of the bus that the driver of the greyhound had to take a beer from Yes this idiot brought a 40oz on the bus.
We get off the bus and waited hours for that shuttle. Guess who waited with us? This guy was as ghetto as they come. I knew there would be noway in hell this guy was going to graduate.

I checked into the hotel that night and was assigned the room next to me. See where this is going? But wait there is a twist! So now I will pickup where I left off.

Day 1 we went to class and they checked all of our paperwork. Guess who didnt bring all their stuff... He was sent back to the hotel and went back home. So now after class my and my roomate walked in and it stunk of weed. My roomate swore to me he didnt bring weed. This wasnt fresh weed smell, this was burned weed smell. Trust me I know the difference.
We figured someone In another room was burning and asked room service for air freshner. We didnt want security thinking it was us. Day 2 we walked into the room after class and no weed smell.

Here is where it gets interesting. About 10 days later im laying in my room and guess who comes walking in my room. It was the him! He was happy and excited to be back. Bumped my fist like I was his long lost homie. I was like - great just what I need this guy in my room who thinks this a vacation. He began to ask me questions about the drug test procedure and if they watch you pee.
I asked him why are you dirty? He said yea, but he had a trick u p his sleeve. He pulls out this plastic bottle and tells me his friend pissed in it for him and was going to cheat the drug test.
Serioisly? Wow.. I tdied convincing him he should just get back on the bus and go home. He felt 100% sure he would be fine. Later that night my classmate who was previously roomed with this guy next to me, Informed me he found a pile of weed o the night stand the day he got kicked out. It was him that made our room smell like weed!

This is where my morals and ethics kicked. Im no rat, but this wasnt right. I dont want thjs guy deiving an 80k lb truck with my or any family on the roads. I had to say something. The next morning I walked Into the supervisor office and closed the door.
I gave him a heads up about the guy and what he was planning to do that morning. He told me he would take care of it and I continued with my day.
Later that day I was In my hotel room and the guy comes walking In smiling like he just hit the lottery. "Told you I could pull it off". I was confused and blown away. Wtf do you mean? It worked and they didnt watch you?
I was extremely upset even after I gave them a heads up about what he was going to do. I thought well maybethey are going to retest him again or something. Nope I graduated about a week later and the guy was still at the academy. I was very dissapointed and moved rooms that day to get away from that guy.

I tried not to let it affect me and stayed focus on what I was doing. I felt I did my part and spoke up about issue. It was now on the Academy. Guess the academy wanted the money from the guy rather than doing the right thing...

I will update next with my mentor phase of my journey and that is a whole other novel. Again bare with me as I am writing this all on my phone now because I am back out on the road. I have about 70 hours left...

Thank you everyone for the replies, hope I can answer some questions that you might have had and motivate you to obtain your goals. Remember you gotta sacrifice for the things you want.

One love and stay safe!