Older (60) Retired Military (Marines) Getting Into Trucking

If you are going to get those eyes examined, do it with a eye surgeon. Not a standard walmart eyeglass examiner. The extra couple hundred will be a investment and a defense against all sorts of eye problems IN ADDITION to possibly detecting other serious health issues which manifest itself into your eyes. Cataracts would be early caught for example. I have had those in one eye and surgery installed a replacement lens for me. However the quality of exams with the surgeon is way better and more comprehensive than just a walmart glasses examiner. Follow me?

Dry van for me is something I don't mind doing. But in my mind I need details, problems or solutions. Dry van to me slam the door, toss a seal and go. Boring. And you get into all sorts of freight. It's still humdrum for me.

Reefer? You are going to be able to do the dry van thing as a advantage. Another would be for example going to Brass Foundry at Buffalo to pick up small coil of small arms material going to Remington here in Lonoke AR to make into cartridges. (I hope I had the right term.) at 60 degrees temp during winter as I have done.

Reefer work is also a foundation of this Nation. Everyone needs food. However it can take three days possibly to load your reefer in say Fort Collins Meat Plant Colorado because the customer wants center cut steak in the whole thing. It's literally cut and packed to order as the kills come off the killtower. 550 cases on the floor 100 plus pounds a case roughly give or take. 48000 pounds to move potentially.

Do you still have that back for it? Reach back to your Marine days and recall how much you carried in those times. Can you still do that today?

At age the biggest challenge for some is to pass the long form medical DOT exam. There will likely be something that turns up. If not? Outstanding!

Flatbed? These are fun. Details and minutiae about where the weight is to go, how to secure it, tarp it, chain it etc. it's off in 15 minutes or on in 5. You might spend a hour or two at most going over it. IF done right its literally wrapped nice like a christmas present, and a point of professional pride visible to all. To this day I eyeball all flatbeds going by in my car and I examine the level of securement and tarping. The most awesome are the very expensive jet engines or armor coming back up from overseas to be rebuilt in our wars. (This leans towards heavy haul...)

Tanker? Well now we are going to get really good here. You will find that this will be rewarding, literally flop a hose down, hook and get the product out. Or on with a hatch etc. It will take a finesse to run a tanker on the road. My school of tanker is simple. One McDonalds large coffee, no lid placed on the cab floor ahead of the shifter. When you drive it and dont SPILL IT.... you are ready for tanker.

You appear to be looking for money. I tell you right now before you get in too deep, you are going to be seeing feasting one week and famine the next in terms of mileage pay. The holidays are no fun. Winter is even less so. (I crave that winter.... )

I hope you still have the ability to fight. You will be going into places where there might be some really dirty predators that might try to give you trouble. Memphis comes to mind. You are not too far from there so, you should need no explanation. We used to run out of McKesson there hauling medicines of a high dollar value in excess of one million in unmarked trucks. We did however have to adopt certain prey behavior and never stop for a minimum of say 3 hours for anything after picking up a trailer there. There are like 5000 bosses monitoring both the trailer you are on and you and your tractor. So that if there is a hitch in your giddy up go, there will be a problem. The payroll takes care of itself in such first class freight.

I can go on, but I am a deaf man who managed to break the mold from a time long ago when deaf people are told they cannot do anything worth while. And was married to a marine out of Cherry Point, in HQ admin who was given a platoon and told to make ready for desert storm. Ultimately they did not deploy because the fighting was over quickly (Something like 100 hours) but they were there on the hanger bay waiting for the plane to take em over. She ended up driving with me as a reefer team driver for almost a year successfully in spite of her service connected disabilities. It was a best of times for us particularly before the cancer fight.

Trucking has changed quite a bit, and maybe not for the better. You might remember from your youth back then where truckers might be looked up to, not so much today. In fact you might run into a sort of a .. situation where you will not feel valued or even respected by your betters inside a company intent on micromanaging everything and countermanding your decisions. Take a even strain and hope for the best, the first year or three is the most dangerous for you. One simple rule, don't hit anything at all. They will fire you for it. And that might be that.

Good luck.

 

So Gunny I recently did exactly what you are proposing to do with some minor differences...

First is that I have OTR experience BUT it was in the 80's up until April 1991 which was the fateful date the new thing called a CDL came out... I dropped out and went on to other things, time passed... So I end up in Missouri working for the county highway department which involves driving some dump trucks and moving equipment around on a low boy, they facilitated me finally taking the CDL test in 2010 because it was required and because they could. So I was an equipment operator there 8 years and did some local truck work. With the kids gone and a whole new attitude about trucking I wanted to get back out there..

It was not so much about the money because I was making OK money operating a grader and other things but I do admit I am making more now where I am. So I like you did my homework.. I joined forums (like this one) I talked to people I know who own or drive trucks, I went on the FMCSA site and familiarized myself with the massive regulatory changes that have taken place since I was a driver back in the 10 hour day unlimited hours as long as you had extra log books days...lol. I watched the videos and read up on everything, especially the medical stuff because like you I am 60ish... 59 until July. I am also a Veteran, US Navy 1975 (17th b-day) until 1981, submarines E4 when I got out honorably.. that did 2 things for me, taught me about discipline and preparation AND I have VA health care should I need it.

So I kept watching the postings on CL for jobs and doing research on companies I saw advertising there and thinking.. I don't want to have to go to school to learn how to drive a truck, I already have more than a million miles doing that but as everyone knows the insurance companies rule the industry now and you can't hire a driver without a specific amount of experience within a specific amount of time unless you are schooling them. So I filled out an online broad spectrum app online and just waited. Now I wasn't wanting to be out weeks at a time (I have property, animals, and a red headed wife...) So I wanted weekends off, I wanted some independence and a small to medium sized company to work for in the industry I have been doing... Dump trucks or Ag (hopper bottom). Why? Because who wants to pull a 53' box around when you can pull a 40 foot end dump? So I got a call from the company I am with now, Ben asked what I had been doing and I told him, everything. He called because the jobs are related in a way and he liked 8 years on the same job... Guess they don't see that much in trucking these days. He pointed out the facts..

A: I had held a class A for 7 years
B: I live in a four state region and it is true that I have had to cross State lines in a county truck
C: I knew more about operating the equipment than most new guys he see's

So he said, "every once in awhile I can push the insurance company a bit" and so I started orientation the following Monday... Pulling frameless end dump for a popular mid Missouri carrier. I am pretty happy, it has been 85% of what I expected, the company is really good although I disagree with some of the way the trucks are speced.. I guess many out there do. I can live with it because I NEVER wait to load and I run e-log legal, I am home every Friday evening or night and I get to choose whether I leave Sunday or Monday. We run the entire midwest and some mid atlantic with the occasional run to Florida or Texas or even out west a bit. We have a van division that runs all 48. I am in a 2017 Pete 579 that just turned 100k. My trailer is brand new. One of the things that got me hired was 7 years with a CDL and a spotless record.. I've been working here 7 months now and it is still spotless. Yes, I haul heavy now and again but I don't cross a scale with it. So now 7 months later I am now training new guys in how to operate an end dump, where to go and what to do and such... When we train the trainee gets his truck and follows the trainer for about 2 weeks or so.. Trainer pay is GOOD . I point that out because nobody here had ever reached trainer status in less than a year... The thing is the trucking industry needs men with COMMON SENSE... A work ethic to do what it takes and Gunny I know you have that... Do those things and you will prosper, along with.. Keep your head down and understand consequences. What you do to waste time of a morning will bite you in the rear by afternoon and keep the left door shut to make money..

Good luck Gunny... Semper Fi

 

I think you will do well. Focusing just on the wages from trucking, whatever it might be it has to be better than what I have seen in my time (80's until 2009... due to inflation. No bills as a youth versus a home owner team etc later)

Try to put away savings from the trucking wages outside of what you require each working day on the road. You will find that there are ways to bypass retail costs with your own way of cooking while moving. For example a Dutch oven or two running off the 12 volt, ham, onions, taters and some florets all cooking in a form of gravy for half a day. When it's finished 11 hours 600 or more miles later, dinner is served at very little cost compared to retail. You will have several cases of water and other favorite fluids under the bunk in storage to go with it.

With today's laws that include a 34 hour reset, your trip planning is best used to capture that 34 hours spent somewhere you want to be. For example in our time we tried to spend time off somewhere in the USA that offered some form of learning and maybe a touch entertainment, but nothing too hard for example museums such as Aberdeen in Maryland. 9-11 changes many things about on base accessibility with a bobtail so it might not fly well. Tidewater was another place. To sit on the bay with nothing but seagulls circling for that left over doughnuts and decompressing came out pretty good. I miss the sea to this day, but my love is in the mountains. The bigger the better.

One thing I did not say too much was the people you will meet potentially. You will make many friends anywhere in the USA, some areas a little more hospitality than others. We have had some interesting loads delivering to actual houses in a cul de sac or a closed court circle and try to back a 53 footer down to a garage or carport. Something that is not always possible in NY State. However the people there were outstanding because they were all with a common goal with those oranges being delivered to them. (Fund raiser) from florida. That was a week to remember for us because we are accustomed to going into NYC Hunts Point and dealing with the predators, ###### and parasites etc. And to have a load like that going to really nice people not too far from NYC really helped us a little bit.

I think that's all I can put on here. You got some years over on me and I don't think i can teach you too much.

Good luck out there.

 

Downtime for some truckers is really hard. I recall without being excessively wordy, somewhat put off when ATS gave me a simple 230 mile run to virginia beach out of orientation in central NC. And I had the trailer picked up on a thursday and appt time did not deliver until monday. What a waste of time to me. Let's go, let's run. But no I sit. And sit. and sit. Drove me crazy. That was a long time ago.

My first run out to Yakima to load Onions for Boston Chelsea Market involved just about a 3000 mile run through the worst of dakota winter in a current winter storm moving across the USA. THAT was more like it. I planned on spending a day at Amesbury in the old truckstop there (Burned decades ago now...) to rest and get ready for the next run whatever that was. However I did not get this kind of run until my late 20's Most of my companies at the time I ran for them kept me within 1000 or so miles radius of home yard. A small chain considering many drivers were coming off the west coast going east.

The reason I enjoyed very long hauls is because no one is going to peck on me about how I am running provided I stay ahead of the fleet's late check each morning around sunrise. They will position your truck, add up the miles remaining, addup your hours left on recap and come up with one answer, are you late or not? For some being late is the last day at employment.

Mid 94 or so spring into summer. Was a intense time. We swung into picking up wartime cargo for the US Military Korea via the US Ports in the Gulf and Eastern Seaboard as well as rail heads. No one specifically said put the logs away, but it was understood you got up and ran. That stuff has to be in Korea asap. Whole truckstops filled with military iron, flatbeds with 105 towed etc. Nothing in the papers thankfully.

Suddenly the dear leader dropped from a heart attack. Boom back to loading potato chips for birmingham or something. It was kind of hard to come off wartime running to humdrum in less than a week.

Running like that I learned that what I thought were my personal limits in trucking in terms of how far you can get a semi on 300 gallons plus how far you can go and not fall asleep or get tired was quite a bit. But eventually you did get tired.

Fast forward many years into the last of my trucking with wife as a team up to 9-11 and after. You can really run, but as long both of you get some sleep that is quality each day you will have what is called stamina and be able to meet dispatches emergency problems nationwide at a moment's notice as we did. It did cut into both of our pay but at the same time, it showed how valued we were that year.

I think that's it. Once you get into trucking and learn what is possible in driving versus rest times, that HOS will protect you from what I consider a great sin, driving while sleeping. It's worse offense than driving drunk for a variety of very good reasons besides the obvious. So when you have downtime, Horse, gun then soldier last. Take care of your sleep however long and short it is for you personally, then take care of the truck then your laundry etc and then stand ready for a dispatch call that is coming while resting.

As a Marine, you probably know how to wait before battle however long that might be when Command might not know what to do with you and your unit just yet. I don't think you will have a problem at all here in the trucking industry.

 

I talked with a second infantryman not too long ago in Korea in online gaming of all things, he says that things are getting pretty tight up there on the Border for him. I follow the Korea situation several times a day and night now waiting for the balloon to go up. Not to be negative or anything.

Stories from a relative who was a Lt of Fox, third reg 1mardiv in Korea at Chosin until he got mined there. He healed up and did a second tour on the line in the war some months later. (Something he did not speak of until additional information from Echo who was there came out about him.) I eventually got to meet this relative's commander, a Captain in Arlington not too many years ago. Both said about Korea, too many hills. I believe em.

Moving on. If it is staying steady work you seek in trucking, the money will take care of itself. Flatbed would be one, Tanker will be another. Reefer? It's ok but it has some downsides.

It's the people you will be dealing with most likely that will be points of either benefit or unwanted attention depending on what they have for you or demand of you day in and day out. IF you have good people then you are blessed wherever you go.

I don't have anything else unless you come up with something new to ask, You would think the years Ive had would amount to many stories and maybe a little bit of lesson here and there. But in the end that freight has to get through regardless on how bad the winter is on the yonder mountain.