Route to take for trucking school

Keep in mind a lot of company's place a premium on hiring vets. I would guess that no matter what path you chose, provided your driving record is clean and you pass your testing. You would be employed as soon as you wanted too.

Allthebest

 

I went the small local trucking school route and am glad I did. Payed for it out of pocket with income tax refund and cutting a few corners in my budget. I owe no company and enjoy that freedom. Things to look into in a small school are teacher to student ratio, the equipment they will be training you on, Are they teaching you out of the states rules of the road book? Or do they have computer stations set up with pre-quiz, and in school testing/online resources or some combo of the two? Check out the schools on Yelp or some other websites. See what past students say about them. Do they have recruiters come in to speak to the students? The school I went to allows former students to return at anytime to sit in and use the computers for pretesting for endorsements if you chose not to get one or two while in class free of charge. Also does free finger printing for Hazmat for former students. I really liked going to a small school. It was a 4 week course but the instructors had people there for 5 or 6 weeks if they couldn't pass in four. They took the time needed for each student to learn at their own pace, no rush you in, push you out.

Good luck
Allthebest

 

5 over? not really.

 

No, not at all. A lot of companies will have leniency. A lot of them will allow you to have 2-3 violations within a 2-3 year period. seeing that you only have 1 violation (barely speeding), probably no convictions seeing that your just out in 2012 from the service, and most likely a clean record besides that, dude you are in the same boat that I am, a very desirable candidate being a veteran.

 

1st off Welcome Home Marine ! and Thank You! My advice to you would be hold off on using the GI Bill if you can. ( use it to purchase / build a home ). Try researching community colleges in your area that offer CDL training , I'm assuming that you are working now , so the fact that many community colleges give you a week-end option would fit in with a work schedule , may take a bit longer to complete , but you'll be able to keep working , while attending school. There are many different ways to get money for schooling available these days , and the financial-aid dept. at that sort of facility could help you with that. Like Chinatown mentioned get your pass-port , TWIC card , and all the endorsements you can , that will help open many doors for you in the future. Also apply , apply , apply , everywhere you can , ignore the 2 years experience required signs , never know when a former Marine will be sitting behind that desk....but apply anyway....the word no is painless , Good luck and keep us all posted on your progress!

 

No problem. My reward is a simple thank you so I'll help all I can. I'm a retired U.S.Navy Seabee so a Marine is almost the same service to us. If you have any questions fire away. If you feel they might be too personal you can PM me any time.

 

Hi, Dave
Where are you doing your schooling?

 

NETTTS in Bridgeport, CT. http://www.nettts.com/
After checking NETTTS out & Allstate I felt NETTTS was the best for me. I also felt the long course was better not only for the loan but I would have more time to "take" everything in before going for my permit/endorsements, just need to get my HAZMAT got all the others & state road test.

I had a class B since 1983 but have not used it since then but have kept it up med card wise. I may have gotten away with the short course being I knew a lot of the pre-trip inspection just needed a re-fresher. The on road driving is cake and told if I had to do the state test would pass with just 3 times out. We go out at least once a week for on road training and I know some have gone 2 times because they needed "more training". I also have driven many different camper & car trailers up to 35 feet so that helped me too.

After 12 weeks of class room work- map reading/trip planning, right way to fill out log book, weight shifting, safety videos, brake tests & pre-tip, etc. with some hands on of brake test, D&H, pre-trip.
Been out for a few weeks now, yesterday I started parallel parking for the next 2 weeks that was after the 2 weeks of ally dock parking & 2 weeks of D&H/brake test/pre-trip. Hope next week or later this week to not do just parallel but to add the ally dock to it so I can set my state test date.
Every day the first thing we do is Drop & Hook, Brake leak test, under hood inspec. and pre-trip inspec. Before doing and parking moves. Also been helping class mates both pre-trip & parking when I can as it helps them & me keep up on it all but I like helping.
Like anything you get out of it what you put into it.

Hope it helps you and the OP on what is out there for schools and is offered by them. Some are better than others but you also pay for that.
Dave ----