A tough transition

I have been floating around these forums for some time now and I've never really thought of posting anything until now, mainly because Perpetual did such a great job of outlining his decisions between SNI and Roehl; both of these are companies that I'm considering, along with Quality Carriers since I would really like to pull tankers. however, Roehl has been at the top of my list so far due to the fact that I hear a lot of good things about them, and from personal research they seem right for me.

It's a big transition though, as I've done seven years in the Army and I'm ready for something new. I go on terminal leave in August, and I've been doing a weekend CDL course at Savannah Tech. The program has been pretty good so far, but I'll find out just how good the training has been when I test out on the 2nd. My wife is pregnant and will be due this December, which is right around the time my actual ETS date hits, so I'm thinking of going Reserves so that I can get cheaper health insurance through TriCare.

No matter what company I choose I know it's going to be tough at first, but it'll be an experience, I'm not expecting to crap gold though. I'm going to update this periodically, starting with the company I go with after I (hopefully) pass the CDL test, then I'll keep it rollin'. I hope this will be as useful to another new driver as Perpetual's thread was to me. It will also help work out the knots on my stomach when I think too hard about doing something new with my life!

Thanks for reading,

Wubz

 

Thank you all for your replies, it means a lot! I have spoken to the recruiter from Quality Carriers a couple of times over the past few months, he doesn't seem to eager to have me anyhow, but I've heard good and bad about the company - more bad than good lately. So far both Reohl and Schneider have been the most helpful, I got a call from both of their recruiters today, and I have to tell you it's a toss up.

I've heard nothing but good things about Reohl and their recruiter has been very helpful. However, since I want to pull specialized rather than box (no offense!), the only thing they offer is flatbed at .33 starting out, with a raise to .36 cpm after 6 months.

The only real downside is that since I'm joining the Reserves, I can only be on their national system, no regional. This isn't bad all in all, however once the baby's born I may want to try for regional.

Schneider is offering tanker, both national and regional. Like Reohl, they start out at .33 cpm, but the recruiter said that I would get a raise to .39 cpm after 6 months. They also have a military apprenticeship program, which will draw from my GI Bill but I need to look deeper into that one. I've learned to be wary of recruiters.

Prime hasn't returned my phone call yet. I'm at a crossroads though, both seem to be good companies (I know both have their issues), but I was wondering if any of you could shed more light on them. I'm not looking for horror stories, just plain truth. I would appreciate it.

Now, I figured I would add a little something about the CDL course that I went through. I'm done with the course work and I test out this coming saturday. Now, this isn't a plug for the program by any means, it has it's issues, but if you live in GA, Savannah Tech offers weekend, full time and night courses for CDL. I went to their Walthourville campus which isn't too bad, the truck pad is a shut down municiple airport.

The first three weekends were awful, but it got us through the permit exam. The runway was good for learning how to double clutch, and all in all it got the job done. Our first instructor was pulled from the course since he taught us how to do the alley dock and a few other things the wrong way, as well as to always swing into the opposing turning lane when doing a right turn. Even to the point of shutting down the intersection if the vehicles in that turning lane didn't back up for you.

However, the next instructor that we got was extremely helpful, went over the correct maneuvers, and was very patient with us when we did the road work. I wish I could have taken the regular day courses, but the weekend course is okay too if you don't have the time due to work.

I hope that helps if someone near Hinesville/Savannah thinks about signing up for that course - Tuition Assistance covers military, but there are a few out of pocket costs such as the fuel surcharge ($120). It's still cheaper than buying college books!

Wish me luck on the test, the in cab inspection gives me trouble sometimes!

 

Hey guys, sorry that it's been a little while since I've posted - I was in the field for a couple of weeks. Glad to be home! I thought I'd give an update on my progress, as well as a more thorough review of Savannah Tech's truck driving class, if anyone is ever interested in the Ft. Stewart area.

Firstly, I failed the break check test the first time around. I forgot to turn the key to accessories so that the warning buzzer would go off! Very embarrassing. I took that test at the Effingham campas at Savannah Tech., they have their own third party testers. I took the test on a Saturday and recheduled for the following Friday at the DMV. Savannah Tech's weekend instructor (David) drove me up there in their truck on his day off, without pay, so I made sure to do a good job this time around and I got my CDL with Tanker/Haz-Mat endorsements.

With that being said, it was a hard choice between Reohl and Schneider; I know that Reohl is a good company as far as the big boys go, as well as Schneider with their good (from what I hear) training program. With Reohl I would have went on their national flatbed fleet, starting out at .33 cpm with hometime being every two weeks, plus they would allow me to go to my Reserve drills without it effecting my hometime. The only issue is that I have a somewhat bad knee, I have to wear a nifty knee brace any time I know I'll be doing a lot of moving around, which flatbedding will demand. Not that I'm afraid of work, I'm up for the challenge but I do wonder what a couple of years would do to my body.

Which brings me to Schneider. They offered me a position on their national tanker fleet, get to pick six days out of the month to be home, do not count drills a hometime (which is good for both companies, because my Company will be in SC, not by Ft. Stewart). I know it'll be a lot of moving around, my parents pulled tanks for a while, but I don't think it'll be as much wear on my knee. With a kid on the way, that adds a bit of piece of mind. So, I'm going with the pumpkin. They actually called me the monday after I got my CDL and offered me a seat in their orientation in Dallas on the 26th of June. Sadly I had to turn them down since I'm not taking terminal leave until August 14th, they were okay with that and told me to give them a call about a week before then. Hopefully I'll get a week of relaxation before I jump on that bus, but only time will tell.

I'll keep Y'all posted on how Schneider goes.

As far as Savannah Technical College's truck driving program, they offer a few classes, day, evening, as well as weekend courses. I chose the weekend course since I have a pretty tough schedule at work, which lasts from 0800 to around 1630 every Saturday and Sunday. Their pad at Walthourville (pretty much Hinesvilles, GA) is an old county airstrip, the classroom being a 45' trailer with desks and chairs and such. All in all, it's not a bad set up, there is plenty of room to move the trucks around and practice on the skills range, and the airstrip allows you to practice shifting before getting on the road. The only issue with the Walthourville campus is that it isn't DOT certified for testing, so you must do the testing at the Effingham campus.

The first three weekends was very boring, since I had already gotten my permit. We went through the drivers handbook verbatim, with sprinklings of personal stories from the instructor, whose name shall not be mention. You'll see why later. After that, we began working on the range, practicing our straight backs, parellels and alley docks. That's where the first issue began, because around four weekends into this phase we went down to the Effingham campus, where all of us were promptly told we were doing most of the skills wrong - such as starting our alley dock from a 45 degree instead of 90. Small potatoes, really - although it felt like we wasted a couple of weekends of training. We didn't see that instructor again for that and other reasons; it turns out that he got complaints from a city council because he was taking trucks down town roads that weren't supposed to have trucks, and instructing students to shut down an intersection in order to make a right hand turn. I understand that sometimes you have to do that in order to make a turn, but that it must also be avoided, right?

Our next instructor (David) was an old coot that knew what he was doing. He began the road training phase with us and retaught us much of the skills range. There were 7 of us to beginw ith, but two of us dropped for various reasons, so we would spend all day switching out after an hour of driving a piece. It was exciting, exactly what I had been waiting for this whole time! It was also frightening, challenging, and a bit nerve wracking. There was hardly a weekend that someone didn't pull in front of me. One person actually stopped in my lane after an overpass because he thought it was a turning lane (I assume)! Another time a young couple were walking along the road, I slowed down a lot so I wouldn't catch them with my wake, but the guy grabbed the girl and pretended to throw her in the way. I saw it coming, we were all dumb kids at one point, but David was understandably shaken.

After all of that though, I was able to get my CDL. So I can safely say that the training was good despite a few hickups, I am by all means a beginner and already I'm humbled by the task of driving these big suckers down the road. I hope to see you all on the highway soon!

Does anyone have any pointers for starting out pulling tanks? I'm NBC in the army, so pulling haz-mat is a great interest to me since I know a little bit about chemicals and protective equipment, but I know there's a lot more to it than that.