C1 Indianapolis Feedback

Hey Harvey in reference to "At C1, most of the instructors will never even show you how to couple or uncouple the trailer." We got taught how to couple and uncouple yesterday and we all got to do it. It is true though that it was not stressed as much as the other stuff on the range but in my personal opinion coupling compared to everything else we've learned is pretty easy.

 

Yeah you're right Scott, my current financial situation has brought me here to C1 but with no regrets whatsoever. VA funding? No I didn't, but I checked my state for other VA help and they always said they would get back to me but never did. It's ok though, I know their might be many other veterans that need it more than I do. Anywho, without further adieu, here's my week one synopsis.

 

Here's my run down on my first week at C1 Indy…

Sunday-Week One:

At approximately 9pm got to the Holiday Inn Express South in Indianapolis which is about 6 to 7 miles away from the school which is on 3603 East Raymond and takes approximately 20 minutes to get there in a personal owned vehicle. Advice to the people who live close enough to drive, bring your car, even if you'll be staying in the hotel cause the bus system in Indy sucks. I've been lucky in that I have been able to get a ride up there everyday so far (knock on wood) … so then this brings us to

Monday-Week One:

You had to be there at 6am the first day. I got a ride with my roommate. My plan was taking a cab up there the first day cause the bus didn't run that early, but I guess my Irish luck kicked in. Unluckily for my roommate he got axed on the physical. As I said before if you have any doubt of your health issues find out with your doctor first before coming all the way here. Remember truck drivers can't die while driving a truck cause that could be dangerous for the public resulting in an accident. The morning is mostly spent on getting your paperwork filled and your physical and drug test done. Darlene Spencer was the first person we met and she was the one who guided us through our very first steps. At about or around 11am & 3 or 4 students less later, we met our week one and classroom instructor Keith Shelley for the first time and soon thereafter got our welcome from the School's Director Mike O'Neal. Mike is a nice and very professional guy. He gave us the contract and some other legal paperwork to sign while giving us the overview of the school's staff and school property. After this we were allowed to go to lunch. After lunch (or before I can't remember) Keith gave us his introduction. I remember one of the first words he said was that the days were gonna go fast and sure enough they have. I'm already beginning the third week and feel like time has been on fast forward. Keith advised us to make study groups. Our class took that seriously and we have met almost every day downstairs in the lobby studying our butts off. The first day Keith pointed out the Smith System gave us the General Knowledge class. About 6 or 7 of us had come with three of the guys whom got kicked out in the morning due to their physical so we were without a ride. Keith being a stand up guy asked other people in the classroom if we could ride with anyone. Luckily we all got rides back. Keith stressed another thing, his exact words I believe were "if you got here the first day on time there is no reason you should be late tomorrow since you have a whole extra hour to get here on time" but sure enough some people didn't heed his advice, which brings us to

Tuesday-Week One:

 

(cont...)

Tuesday-Week One:
Tuesday Morning 7am, about 4 to 5 people were late this day. Only one of those are still with the class today and it's probably cause he was just hitching a ride. Keith did as he promised and started the class promptly on time. One gentleman who was late and who we called Krispy (because the first day he went with a Krispy Kreme shirt) suspiciously got kicked out later that same day. This is where the conspiracy theorist in me kicks in; see guys and girls, we are pretty much being handed our education. Sure we have to sign on with a company contract for a whole year but, being given a $6000 course ($3000 if you pay cash - I learned this from students who financed it on their own) for agreeing to one year of compensated driving with a certain company sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Will I feel like this in the future? Don't know, but it's just like my time in the military: it wasn't my best option at the time but later on in my life I was rewarded by choosing that path. Anyway, back on subject, conspiracy theory: put yourself in the shoes of someone who is gonna pay someone else to learn something with your dollars and who is only a POTENTIAL employee of yours. If that would be me, of course I would weed out all the weak links as I deemed necessary, which brings me to my point. Yes, this is a 3 week course but it also is a 3 week interview. Think 'Survivor' mixed with Boot Camp. In the words of the great Makoto Shishio "If you are strong you live and if you are weak you die." DON'T BE LATE. You aren't late to work the first couple of months are you? You want to make a good impression. I always treat every person on that staff as if they are my employers. Anyway, the rest of the day was spent learning Air Brakes (which I didn't get thru my thick skull until I saw a video on youtube from the 1980s or something about it), practice testing air brakes, learning 'Entry Level', testing on Entry Level, learning and testing on DOT and I'm not sure if we did HAZMAT on tuesday or wednesday … but it was a very informative day - as one student who was paying her way stressed yes there was a good amount of down time in the classroom but you were supposed to use that down time (usually after you tested) by studying your butt off for the Permit test which the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (as it is called here in Indiana) goes to the classroom on wednesday ...

 

(cont...)


Wednesday-Week One:
Ok now my memory seems better and I believe we did do HAZMAT on early wednesday and we did Map Trip on Tuesday afternoon. Either way I'm just writing this for informative reasons it's not like I'm reviewing the place. Anywho, I know we got a subject in before 9:30am when the BMV was scheduled to test us on General Knowledge, Air Brakes, Combination Vehicles and Indiana Motor Vehicle Operators License if you weren't from Indiana. We took all those tests up until 12:30 and took our lunch. Then we learned some more after that. If my memory serves me well it was log books and then on thursday we got tested on log books, but, I know I'm messing up the order of the subjects but on the handbook I was given on the first day it says that the order they teach you this is not set in stone, though I believe that they do (and did) give you what you are going to need for your permit i.e. Air Brakes, Combination and General Knowledge first. Unfortunately we were the first class (or so we were told) that didn't get out test results back the same day, which sucked, cause, if you didn't pass your written tests you had to go back the next morning and take those tests again. So Wednesday night had me and the rest of my class studying EVERYTHING again. I went over it on eGears (tell you more about that later) read the CDL manual given to me and hoped I was reading what I needed. Guess what I didn't …

Thursday-Week One:
Early Thursday morning and we were told our results. I only failed combination (thank GOD it was only one) which ironically was the only one I felt real confident about, I truly thought I would've failed air brakes so I guess that video I watched on youtube helped me out some. We went over to the BMV shortly after that and we took our tests. This time we were graded and told our results instantaneously. I passed. That was a relief for me since I still had that paranoia of being kicked out of the island any time. We were currently down to 21 students. And later that day reality hit us again. This student that we dubbed UPS guy was kicked out close to schools end that day. See around lunch time he was boasting about how he was gonna go over to UPS as soon as he could and that he might finish his year contract and quickly jump over to UPS for a job. Big mistake. A staff member (or someone from the company who was sponsoring him depending on the source) came up to the bright individual and asked him "hey so they tell me you want to go to UPS?" … he said "yes" … FAIL! This reminded me of the part in Ghostbusters where Winston tells Ray to lie about if he was a god or not … yeah, real smart buddy. Again, put yourself in the position of the company and in the school's for that matter, quality reliable people … you haven't even got your CDL and you're already thinking about going to another company?!?!? You gotta walk before you run bub. Another girl hadn't showed up in the last two days (missing test day) she told the other girls that she didn't FEEL like going to school. We never saw her again. I mean … ok, given, you may not feel well, but at least make an effort to get to school, take the test and then go home if you have to. I mean sure the school is in a way very strict. Sure they seem to have razor sharp knives when they cut someone, but they receive a HUGE amount of students there and when business is good you can choose your customers. Businessmen will look for the survival of their business. So if you have a drunk coming in everyday and messing up the atmosphere of your restaurant even if he spends $20 bucks a day it may be better for your business to ban him from the premises. But anyways one last thing I wanted to add on for thursday, all week individuals who were graduating came into the class and ALWAYS said to study up on one thing … Pre-Trip ….

 

Well the only thing I know about Drivers Solutions is that they set me up and recruited me to come up here ... other than that NADA; maybe you should start a 'Find out who's Driver Solutions thread.'

 

Right now I got Brad on the range and street. Very good instructor. I'm glad I got to be with him cause he's very detail oriented and he shows that he really gives a darn. I went out with Terry a couple of times. Also a very good instructor, he reminds me of an old NCO of mine. Terry's a bit more leaned back, different teaching styles. I enjoy both teaching experiences, but in my opinion Brad being there for 2 years (I think is what he said) I have more information to learn more from him which I like. I really feel fortunate of getting them two cause they both have very high passing rates (up in the high 90s) and I see some guys that have been there for 5 weeks trying to test out and I'm kinda glad I didn't get the instructors that taught them cause I want to leave ASAP, but then again some guys just have a thick skull and take a long time to get it. Right now one of the aforementioned five week-ers is doing his repetitions with Walter who is the head of the program (you might know him Harvey) and I was looking at how that kid was ###### up his range and I was like 'Man What are you doing?!?!' I felt like my instructor on day one. So yeah I understand why some instructors get frustrated. So yeah to answer your question other than Brad, Terry, Walter; the other instructors I know by name are Ken, Tim, James, Dion and Gary ... there are others but don't know their names. So hey Harvey so you being an insider could you tell us the big C1 no-nos? Like give us some info on what not to do or else you get kicked out...

 

Friday-Week One:

Friday morning came and again those who failed to pass the written tests had to return to the BMV and retake their exams. Those of us who passed stayed and saw a very boring video about Pre-Trip Inspection. I had to stand up and walk in back of the class just to stay awake. I felt like I was watching one of those boring home improvement TV shows. Regardless though it did clarify some doubts I had on what was what. This day also brought us the demise of two other students; one couldn't find her birth certificate so she went home (needing proof for her Indiana interim license and CDL permit) and the other lady from Georgia disappeared mysteriously. To this day we still joke about her disappearance saying that she still is looking for her way back to school, we say this cause she was always getting lost to and from school making her tardy everyday. I hope you find your way soon lady from Georgia. This brought us to the total of 17 students. We also had our Math test on this day. Which was adding up the times on the filled in log book exercises (which refreshes my memory and confirms that logbooks' training was in fact on thursday) We also had a Pre-Trip demo by Keith towards the end of the day. This day also brought us the introduction of our week 2 & 3 instructors. These were the men who were gonna teach us how to drive a tractor trailer and they were Brad, Terry, Ken, David, Dion and Tim (who we called mullet head; cause of his 1980 hairstyle). We were instructed to study our Safety Mechanical part in our handbook … this ladies and gentlemen is where the good fun began …