Finished CDL Training Today

Today was the last day of CDL training. Now I'm in the rotation for the exam and hoping to get a call within the next few weeks to go test.

I have mixed feelings about the school I attended. The class I was enrolled in had 25 students at the beginning of the five month program, and today we finished up with 13. Still way too many people for one truck. These schools need to have FMCSA regulations on student-to-truck ratios. I know these CDL schools are a big money maker, especially when your school goes scraping up grant money eligible students. If it wasn't for personal initiative and the availability of outside resources for training I would not be ready for the CDL testing. Unfortunately there are more than a handful of classmates that will not get their CDL. I watched those poor souls all this week during evals just completely screw up outside cab pre-trip, in-cab pre-trip, and the air brake test. That is on them for not doing the drill each day. I didn't miss anything on this portion. I swear I got to the point where I hated to do it, but repetition got me to a passing. Not once did our instructors demonstrate a walk down of the process. We were given a handout and told to have at it. Youtube is your friend. The pre-trip sheet they gave us was sketchy, so I found other resources for this part of the training.

Maneuvers training focused heavily on offsets and straightline backing. Parallel and alley dock were not given much thought. By the grace of God I was just good enough to get through those two. I wouldn't even rate myself as good. Just good enough to pass. There are maybe six or seven of us that passed the evaluation on those two maneuvers.

The whole reason I did the five month program was for the extended practice time. I'm glad I did. The success rate of the four week program is not good. I've seen students in the four week program get into loud arguments over who is getting into the truck next. I finally talked my instructor into keeping a list so we could have some semblance of order in the rotation. Had one little clown about 22 years old try to get in a truck ahead of me and I gently explained to him that if he didn't get back in line he would not be physically capable of climbing into any truck for a few months. The pad was for a while like a prison yard. Instructors didn't care. I'm 55 and ain't listening to any smart aleck kid. You just have to understand the quality of students this school recruits. Memphis area.

Anyway, I didn't much care for the school. It had its part in my training, but failed others. Most failed hemselves. Some of the most dedicated students in my class, including myself, struggled. The ones that are ready are a tight group that helped and coached each other, and every one of us are the older students.

Just my views and opinions. I'm sure there are worse schools.

 

Thank you. I still have many more hurdles to jump, lessons to learn, and newfound skills to hone. Wherever I land will begin with another round of training to make me a driver. Right now I am a CDL test eligible CDL permit holder doing my best to move another inch up from the bottom the barrel and become a driver. If this was easy I guess everybody would be doing it. After I get my CDL I still have to test AGAIN with a FMCSA Skills Performance Evaluation representative to legally drive a CMV. I guess the state examiner isn't good enough.

 

Flatbed is where I want to be. Some consider me nuts for thinking about that at my age. I have Melton, Maverick, and McElroy on my radar. What I truly want is to haul steel only.

 

I am missing my left leg below the knee, so I have the "Accompanied with a Skills Performace Evaluation (SPE) Certificate" box checked on my medical card. I still have to prove I can drive an automatic transmission CMV using my good right leg. Only the FMCSA could come up with this. Left leg doesn't do jack in an automatic. Just another hoop to jump through. I will not be driving manuals even though I have the double clutch on a 10-speed down pat. The way I see it if I have the automatic restriction on my license the FMCSA shouldn't even be concerned with the left leg.