Any advice for a newbie who doesn't seem to exist?

Greetings everyone, Please bear with me while I do my best to describe my situation, with out writing a novel! My father was a flatbed driver and I have always had a desire to have that same occupation. ( my father has since passed on ) I am at a loss on how to go about filling out any company applications since, anyone who would view my app would see me as being a ghost! In other words I have been unemployed for far far too long a time. I realize the importance of all DOT/company rules and that trucking companies need to know that they are not hiring a criminal or drug addict or alcoholic ( I have never been any of those things ) and that is why they need to contact former employers and such but what can I do when I do not have this mandatory information? I am an avid visitor of this site and I do read many of the post's so I can only imagine that I will get a few wise cracks about my being a lazy ##### for my substandard work history, not that I feel I need to defend myself but for the record, I was in a long term relationship where my gal had a job making far more money then I could ever dreamed to earn. I became Mr. Mom to my 2 sons and have no regrets on being in there lives during there formulating years. My relationship has ended and I will say this for those who might be thinking it, "my golden goose has flown the coupe" Truly I would rather be poor and have my family back but it was her choice, not mine . I am not afraid of hard work and back when I was working, I worked an average of 65 hours a week on a labor intensified job. I do understand the hardships of flatbedding but to me, this is where my heart lies. I have no one here in my home town who has an occasional need for me, other then my mom and sister, so there is no real need for hometime, and actually my house is in foreclosure anyways, so you can add that to my list of woes! Since I have no money to speak of, earning anything will be better then living as I have been made to these past months, which is on white bread and crackers, so any money I can earn will be a God send. If there are any recruiters on here that represent a flatbed company who could provide me with the proper training, I ask that you please take a chance on a good guy whose biggest mistake was believeing that all good things never come to an end! I do not own this computer, as it is my sisters so I am only able to check for any possible replies every few days or so but I will remain hopeful that one of you guys or gals will have an answer for me by the next time I check back in? I do want to thank you all so very much for your time and to all of you, who I hold in such great respect, please keep it up right and between the white lines until your back home and safe once again. God bless and all the best.

 

Hello and thank you to all who have helped in sending me there thoughts and information regarding my circumstances. Also I want to apolgize for not replying sooner but I do not own my own computer so I am at the mercy of only being able to get on line while at my sisters or at a friends. I read every word from everyone who was kind enough to reply and I will do my best to answer some of your questions from memory of those reads. First, I do not have a CDL, I have driven both my dad's old international cab over ( which I did not like at all, felt like I was going to look out that windsheild and tip right over lol ) then when he got rid of that beast, I drove his Freightliner classic, of course I need to state that he would NEVER allow me to drive either on public roads or out where any one would be around us. I just mainly moved them around the lot where he parked and on some occasions, in the drop yards. My father was a pro and one of those old knights of the highway, the same kind of drivers that I grew up to idolize and respect. So in answer, I would need real training but I do know a little bit about big trucks from my dad. Also I do study the CDL guide from my home state and I think I do pretty good on everything except the pretrip! I should have paid more attention to my dad and he would always ask me, if I was paying attention and of course I told him I was and now, I sure wish I had been. As for being away from home, well I have two thoughts on that, frist the sad truth of the matter is that every day I wait for the sheriff to come with my "get the heck" out papers so I will soon have no home! Secondly, back before I became a dad, I worked a job that called for me to be away from my home state for months at a time, I was part of a crew that was put up in extended stay hotels while we did our job. So point is, that my being away from all that is familiar to me would not be a hardship on me or something that I would have a difficult time adjusting to. I do want to thank you all for not riding me about the Mr. Mom thing. I loved every minute of that duty, even if it has lead me to being a "ghost" I would not have traded a single minute of it. Onionbuster, had asked me if my boys would be taken care of if I was away out on the road, well sadly I can not answer that question since she took off with them and I have not seen nor heard from any of them since! Yes, I have searched but that has been a useless effort so as my mom and I say, it's in God's hands now and all I can do is ask that he protect and care for them, even there mother! Also I do realize that any company who would take me, won't be the cream of the crop. I fully expect that if someone took a chance on me, that they'll be considered a bottom barrell company ( which I will be kind and not list those who in my opinion would fall into this catagory ) Yes, I fully expect to work for a lessor wage and I know that this is not right in many of your eyes but please understand that when you have nothing, anything becomes instantly better! As long as I was not put into a truck that should have been on the scrap heap years ago, I would be content. I do realize that I will not always feel like that, I have enough knowledge to know that there will be more then a few times when I would say "screw this" I am most aware that I will be used and abused, all for the sake of having a shot at becoming a part of the human race again. Theres an old saying that goes, beggers can't be choosers! I guess that's fitting for me in this matter? I did walk into a burger king the other day, with every intention of asking for an application, but as I stood there in that line, I saw these kids all many years younger then I ( I'm in my 30's ) and they had this hip hop music blasting, basically they we're punks to put it nicely and I thought, theres no way in hades that I could stand next to this every day! The manager herself was all of 19 and just as goofy as the crew. I do see your points of getting some type of employment, for a number of reasons. I realize that no one is going to read this and say " aw you poor guy, here are the keys to a new 387 pete go get your life back" but I guess I have an ounce of personal pride left inside of me and because of that, I just can't bring myself to saying the words, "do you want fries with that" ..... I will keep you all posted as I do plan on looking into the system transport company and I will ask my mom and my sister and my friend and my neighbors ( while I still have them! ) to write me letters of verification. I will sign off outta here but not before saying, thank you all so very much for your time and insights, I did take in every reply and I you will never know how much your taking the time and sending me some words of hope have meant to me. As my dad would say "keep the shinny side up and the rubber side down" Safe travels.