ROEHL Orientation & Training, My Daily Experience

Hello All...
I wanted to give others a chance to know what to expect when they do get to Roehl for orientation and training. I won't go into much detail because I probably shouldn't give it all away, but at least you can have an understanding of how things will go once you get here and a little info on the company from a brand new driver.

My experience currently is New Grad from Driving School (Roadmaster, SA). Roehl training site is Gran Prairie, TX.

Hotel checkin: The Admiral, a decent hotel, it's not a 5 star, but it's nice. The rooms are what to expect from an older, well kept hotel. Roehl pays for the room and you may end up with a room mate. There is a pool, small gym, a restaurant, a laundry room, a pool table, and some vending machines. There is a Valero accross the street where you can buy drinks, snacks, etc.

Food: Roehl provides breakfast and lunch for you. You will order out of maybe 10 choices such as Breakfast burrito, Breakfast sandwich, pop tarts, fruit and your choice of drink. Lunch examples, burger & fries, sub style sandwiches, salads and choice of drinks...there are a few more options, but I cant remember them all. At dinner, you will eat at the hotel restaurant, which is like a sports bar atmosphere. You will have about a $10 credit there each night, which is close to what your tab will be, so maybe $1-$2 out of pocket, plus a tip for the server.

Travel: I rode up to Grand Prairie on Greyhound, which was my choice of travel. They may give you the option to rent a car, but I thought the bus would be easier. They had a driver from a local cab type company pick me up in a Chevy Suburban. Travel from the hotel to Roehl and back each day is provided in a van by one of the instructors.

 

Day 1: Monday 7am-5:30pm
Checked in, did some paperwork and watched a few slide presentations with a video clip or two. Went to local medical clinic for DOT physical and drug tests (hair and UA). Watched a few more slides and went over some rules and guidelines.

Meals: Bacon/egg sandwich and an OJ (big bottle). Turkey/bacon 6" sub, jalepeno poppers and a coke. Beef Nachos with a sprite. (they were ok, but wouldn't get them again)

 

Day 2: Tuesday 7am-5:30pm
More slides or powerpoint and some videos. A lot about safety at Roehl and what they expect from you as a potential driver. You'll also watch a HAZMAT video and will have to take and pass a short test, about 15 questions. This gives you the training required to carry small loads of things like batteries. You will get a walthrough on a truck and will do a pre-trip as well.

Meals: Steak/egg/cheese burrito and an OJ (big bottle). Turkey/bacon 6" sub, with a bag of BBQ chips and a coke. Split a pizza with roomie and some chicken wings, not bad/not great either, and a lemonade.

 

Day 3: Wednesday 7am-5:30pm
A little class work on trip planning, which they covered yesterday as well, I just forgot. We did some straight line backing and a few runs of parking a trailer in between two others. You will pre-trip your truck of course. Near the end of the day, we went out for a drive. This was a run around the endustrial park with quite a few turns, then out for a short highway run and back through some streets to bring it back to the terminal. This is basically where they are testing your current skill level to see if you have the basic skills for them to work with you. They will tell you that they are there to knock off the rough edges so that you are ready for OTR training to smooth things out.
*By the way, we have two instructors, they are both great, calm, informative and patient.

Meals: Steak/egg/cheese burrito with a big bottle water. The big turkey salad with cheese and ranch, anothe bottle of water. Club sandwhich with onion rings and a coke...yummy!

 

Day 4: Thursday 7am-5:30pm
We watched a slide presentation on log books and did a little more map/trip planning. Don't worry, Roehl uses electronic logs, but they want to make sure you know how to use paper logs, just in case.
We did more straight line backing and parking again. In the afternoon we went out for about an hour each for some road driving. You will also receive your first evaluation with some feedback. This is to let you know of their evaluation of your current skills and where they belive you could use some improvement. You will be rated: Poor, Fair, Average, Good, and Great...If I remember correctly.
Meals: Bacon, Egg, Cheese burrito and a big bottle of water. The big salad, turkey/cheese/ranch & a Coke Zero. Chicken soft tacos with beans and rice, an iced tea.

 

Day 5: Friday 7am-5:30pm Sorry for the delay, was a bit tired today with a head cold.
Started out with some class work and a video. Did our usual backing scenarios. One of our two instructors had to go to the doctor, so we had a lot of time just reviewing trip planning and working on our work sheets. We ended up driving for about 20-30 minutes each. Except one of our drivers didn't get a chance to drive today. Also, two of our 5 drivers ended up getting cut at the end of the day for lack of progression.
Meals: Banana & blueberry muffin with water for breakfast, The big turkey salad for lunch with a Coke Zero, hotel restaurant special of the day, 3 chicken tacos with rice and beans with an iced tea...pretty good meal. YES, I had another salad!

 

Day 6: Saturday 7:30am-5:00pm
Started with working on our trip planning sheets, pre-trip and backing again. Getting a lot better, but far from the guys out there doing it for real. In the afternoon, we drove for about an hour each...Just three of us here now. Later we found out that our driving was our Road Test, which we all passed. At this point I think we're all feeling much more comfortable in the trucks...By the way, even though these are old compared to the trucks they're issuing out, they are in much better shape than what any of us had during CDL school.

Meals: Breakfast at the hotel this morning, usual place is closed on the weekend. I had some fresh fruit, a sausage biscuit and OJ, Lunch I had the big turkey salad again, added a little bacon to it with ranch and had a Mountain Dew...needed that extra kick after tossing and turning last night (was wondering if I would be cut today...whew!)

 

Nope, sorry to say none of the garages are up =(