North or South?????

Got that right brother,,we all learned a lot about the workings of the Guard, Reserves and Regular units. The Guard had a bad reputation in the beginning but, that went away after a year or so. I was the only one in the year 2005 to run down an insurgent on a motorcycle, and we got him pulled over and cuffed. Man, that was a blast! I was driving for our LT and he was ######## his pants..lol Never forget that, never.... But I digress..... Thank you for your service to this unforgiving Country Comrade and I pray all goes well in your future, may the Lord bless you and your family.

 

Ooops, I cursed,,,,sorry mods..

 

I don't want to burst your bubble or sound like a Debbie Downer BUT, the odds of you retiring with a company like schneider would be slim to none because it is a company geared towards new people. Could you get 10 years in at SNI? It is possible. But in those 10 years you will probably never be home during the week and only home some (maybe most) weekends. Don't sell yourself short. Look up smaller trucking companies that have been around for a while. Move somewhere near a company like that. Go to schneider and do your year THEN move to a company where you can start your career. A company where you could be home more often making the same money. I don't want you to think that I am bashing schneider because I'm not. From the people I've talked to and the stuff I've read on here, it seems like it is one of the best starter companies. But I just can't see anyone making a career at any mega carrier. If I were in your position, I would move somewhere in the south with nice weather, go to a starter like schneider and get my year in. In that year I would be putting back as much as I could and go buy a truck and lease it with someone like landstar. I'm sure you could get special interest rates or some type of special financial assistance being ret. military and you would be set. That may not be what you're wanting to do but it is something to think about.

 

I agree with Bulletproof... Go with SNI if you wish, no problem there. Get in a year at least and than, stay as long as your happy. If your not happy after a year, give me a shout and I will hook you up with a small company that you can retire from. Well maybe, if this Country don't go to the pooper by then...

 

If you move to the East Central Alabama portion of Alabama, I would be more than happy to hook you up with the company I drive for. Home every night, off every weekend, nice sleeper trucks, avg 3200 miles a week, paper logs, 2 1/2 weeks off per year, and good pay. I get all that plus make more than schneider. Like I said, don't sell yourself short and go for a career making less and being away more when you can make more and be gone less.

 

I live just west of Chattanooga, I would be interested to hear who you driver for? Send PM if you want or, if you don't that is ok too..

 

Some make it up a little with higher sales or fuel tax. You can counter some of that by shopping and living near a military base such as Ft. Campbell by Nashville, or Nellis AFB near Las Vegas and many other places.

We used Redfin website and city-data website to choose a place to relocate to. Redfin will show homes/condos/apartments for sale or rent. Each residence shows which schools it is zoned for and the rating for those schools. Redfin shows property taxes for that particular property and many other details about it. We spent hours on both those websites. We moved from Tennessee to Nevada.

In Henderson/Las Vegas the property taxes vary widely depending on zip code and type of residence. We chose Seven Hills, Henderson, NV and one reason is it's near an international airport, can fly direct to China without changing planes. The house we chose is zoned for the highest rated schools and within daily driving distance to University of Las Vegas. It's 10 minutes from the Las Vegas strip if that interests you. We also liked the average year round weather in that area which is another thing we factored into our decision. As you can see, it took a few hours on the internet to bring everything together that meets our wants and needs.

 

I can tell you that the sales tax is around 9% and property prices are from $2500 an acre to as high as you can imagine. West TN is the best place for land and the property tax varies but, I had 15 acres worth $4500 a piece just for the land and paid less than $250 a year. Food tax is 5% and I there is a commissary in Chattanooga, Nashville and Knoxville.

 

I will PM you. I meant for that to be for the OP and didn't mean you specifically but you would be more than welcome as well.