Millington TN May 9th

Trust me you will not have time to be bored. Its truck driving boot camp. On the bus at 5am, not back til 5:30PM, no days off until the end of week 2 and if you are going to your home terminal you will spend that day on the Greyhound anyways.

Anyways pay attention and keep a good attitude and you will learn a lot. Good luck to ya and be safe.

 

Bring comfortable shoes, hat, and earplugs for sleeping if your cellmat...err.. roomates snore

 

Oh, yeah. You'll get bored. Describing it as "boot camp" is a bit drastic, but the days will be long once you get your permit and start spending time on the driving range. It's not that you won't get an opportunity to go into Millington - you'll have no reason to. There's nothing there - literally. Unless you wanna drive around and shout "ahoy, sailor!" to the Navy personnel you see there. We were even able to take a night to go Biehl Street in Memphis when I went.
Of course, a lot may have changed since then, too.

 

Bring some good shoes you will do a lot of standing and walking. The range is an old runway so some of the trucks can be a pretty long walk. When I was there it was 2-3 people to a truck but there were times when it was just me as well. They will want you to have logged 35 hours behind the wheel before you leave so you will get lots of practice. I would also be ready for the weather too, you will be outside rain or shine, it is trucking after all.

There is a Krogers a short walk from the hotel and you will have a kitchen so it is very possible to eat cheap. There is also a drug store and there is a Walmart about a mile away if you forgot to bring anything. Also the hotel does have wifi but its kinda crappy and not very reliable.

Here is the brakedown when I was there in Feb

Monday - Drug test, DOT physical, lots of paperwork at Memphis terminal (hint - sit towards the front and left you will get your whiz quiz and physical done 1st and have a couple hours to chill)
Tuesday - Classroom day, mostly logging
Wed - First day on range, straight line backing
Thursday - Also on range, will be tested on straight line backing, fail and go home, they also will demonstrate pretrip and drop and hook
Friday - More range time, they will start showing you the different backings you will need to learn, this varies by state, also if you are ready you can test on your pretrip.
Saturday - Practice backing, if you didn't test on pretrip Friday you will today
Sunday - Classroom day with Horace, more logging and trip planning
Monday - Same as Sunday, will be taking written tests and watching boring videos, last day of classroom
Tuesday - Saturday - More backing practice on range, will test Thurs- Sat
Saturday night - Leaving on Greyhound for wherever you are going for road training unless you are staying at Millington for that (depends on what state you are from)
Sunday - Finally day off, if you stay in Millington, otherwise Greyhound, get checked in at new hotel and then you can relax.
Mon-Fri road training at local terminal and you will take your CDL test towards end of the week. All goes well you have a CDL by Friday and have orientation the following week.

 

Got sunscreen?

 

Wow, it has been a while since you were here!

Not many sailors in town anymore, since the Naval Air Station is now Naval Support Activity. Most Navy folks that you see are officers or a few enlisted...

And yeah, not a lot to do for recreation... People watching at WalMart?

 

I'm Moving to Memphis and have been commuting back and forth for the past 9 months so I can give you a few tips on the area, Millington is just blip on the map, not much going on, and a hop away from BEALE street (20 minutes).

Oddly enough my trip has been delayed due to concern of storms and flooding. There will be flooding in Memphis. Memphis in may is suffering from the Mississippi which is estimated to crest somewhere between May 10 - 14th, at a higher than recorded flood level. Parts of Millington are already experiencing flooding, such as the Fire Training and USAR academy out in Millington.

I'd recommend checking with the agency and determining if they aren't impacted by the impending floods.

Check here as well (Shelby County Flooding website)
Www.staysafeshelby.us

an excerpt from that website reads as follows:

What’s New Since the Last Update?
Many residents in Frayser, north Shelby County and Millington left their homes today as the result of flash flooding and the threat of overflowing rivers and creeks.


Hope that helps you!