National Guard Driver

im in a guard unit in nor cal, were an engineering unit we haul all our own equipment like dozers,loaders,backhoes,cranes,humvee's ect. usually if we have training drills at other locations we'll take are stuff for training. we've done some emergencey response stuff for fires. it mainly depends on what kind of job u choose to do in the guard if u choose to goto a transportaion unit then you'll drive more styles of trucks if u join an engineering unit like i did u'll pretty much drive 1 style of truck and trailor.as for opening doors in most cases yes it will open some doors mainly cause of ur service and some cause of the experiance. you will still have to get a cdl if you want to become a truck outside of the guard in the mil u get issued a mil lic that lets u drive mil vech but doesnt apply to ur civlian lic. you'll still have to learn to shift gears since almost all the trucks in the mil are automatics now.

if u have any more ?'s ask away or pm me ill ansewer the best i can hope some of this info helps

 

What he said ^^

 

I was never in the Guard, but I was a Truck Driver in the Active Army for 5 1/2 years. I got some great experience with things like backing and cornering and basic maneuvering etc... We only pulled 40' trailers in Germany, which doesn't sound like much but some of those German Roads and towns are freakin small!

Anyway as the catpwred mentioned you still have to get your CDL and military experience is not considered verifiable experience so it will do you no good as far as that end, but the training and practice will definitely put you ahead of others in your CDL school.

One issue is a lot of the time military miles come in convoys and controlled situations rather than out on the open road. My units in Germany were not like that at all. One was pretty much what would be considered a regional type carrier. Some loads home daily, some over night but the longest I ever stayed out was 9 days and that wasn't well received. (The called all the Trailer Transfer points and told them not to give me any more loads). My second tour over there it was more like a local company. I think I had a total of maybe three over night runs in a little over two years in that outfit. All in all that is very good experience,a nd very particle driving in all kinds of weather and traffic conditions, in cities, on the open road in rural settings etc... I developed great map reading skills... I also learned German because if you got lost you had better be able to do one of the two.

All that said, it is only my word that I did all that. My DD214 simply says Motor Transport Operator. Nothing about what I drove, what kind of miles I received etc. Non verifiable.

Still it is an honorable thing to do and you will gain valuable experience, just not verifiable.

Good Luck with your decisions.

 

you can (and many states do have) a waiver system for the CDL if you can show your driving experience.

It's actually a federal regulation too.
Military CDL Road Test Waiver 49 CFR 383.77

Here's Minnesota's program.
https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/dvs/Pa...ommercial Driver&filter3=Active Military Duty

https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/dvs/forms-documents/Documents/MilitaryCDLWaiver.pdf