Wondering if trucking might be a good fit for me

I went to Sage in Florida and don’t think you could find a school with a better program.

All your driving time is just you and the instructor. Four or five hours driving each time out.

 

Sounds like u were born a driver... most of us is crazy just havent been diagnosed, to busy talking to ourselves inthe drivers seat all day to go see a doctor.

 

Hey OP, any chance your name is Ashke?

 

I am on disability. I am or was on pain management. I am also facing additional surgeries with one very specific goal. Replace bad broken body part, install new good perfect body part. Get out of the hospital and enjoy life.

That means with enough medical work on me as one replaces bad unsafe parts on a vehicle it becomes possible to meet the DOT medical card requirements, no pain management and so forth. Use the previous drving experience to demonstrate somewhat rusted skills but in general easy to kick out down the road with a load. once all the company stuff is out of the way. I am deaf so that means new hearing aids and maybe updated glasses against LED glare, blue lighting and all other forms of visual pollution at night. Or to be able to see against a snow landscape that goes endless beyond your bumper glaring on your hood. (Spray paint charcoal Matt statin black) and ignore company yelling. Black paint the chrome rings of your gauges so your retinas don't get stabbed late PM/

Social Security offers a program. Very specifically this.

1- You have a once in life time ability to work whatever you want for 9 months exactly.
2- You keep your disability as always during this 9 month experiment. This is once in your life only.\
3- You are allowed to own the Hudsucker Corperation as CEO for that 9 months and piles of millions of dollars big deal. /Half satire. If you like your CEO job you get to tell SS to stop your disability and they cut you loose to soar on your own wings and skills.

Warning. If you cut SS loose and those payments stop. They STOP. IF you fall out window and get paralyzed you will have to get in line and reapply like all the rest. To be denied twice then back for the Administrative Judge you go.

You are on your own two feet economically and free from Disability.

NOW....

IF I get say 4 months trucking put away and my new leg joint failed while pulling tandems on trailer due to enormous pressures on it... I get to tell SS that my primary work is just TOO MUCH. They fly someone over to verify that my knee is a size of a basket ball and I rattle and clank like a old 1500's knight as the joint itself is falling out of my leg and require revision surgery that WILL HURT.

My trucking company cuts me a check for 4 months work and I go off to buy a mobile home or something on a patch of land somewhere in a hollow. Pour a tornado shelter when there is more saved from disability payments again. Since I am no longer with HUD or any kind of RENT BS, I am on my two feet, just a home owner on paper.

And buy a Grissom storm shelter and a dog for outside and a cat for inside.

Spend my days uploading videos of the crazy arkansas idiots driving up and down 40 which is essentially STAIGHT. THEY find themselves in accidents. Because the roadway is so straight.

 

If inattentiveness is not an issue for you, then you might take a shot at being a driver.

However, even if you have no attentiveness issues while medicated, if you require medications for attentiveness, that might be a show stopper. Some medicines used for treating ADHD are stimulants that can cause you to fail drug tests.

That said, I have moderate ADD and moderate OCD. I discovered this in my mid 20's, after finishing all my higher education. I do not require medicines for either, and living with them for nearly 30 adult years has led to my developing strong coping mechanisms. Specifically, I have trained myself to use my OCD to mitigate my ADD, and the other way around as well.

One of the biggest problems I had when starting out was getting enough sleep. Even though I only need 4 or 5 hours sleep a night, I had issues making myself go to bed instead of watching videos, posting to forums, or other internet activities for longer than I should.

OTR driving is an industry where timing is frequently critical, and if you are alone in the truck, it's all on you to control your sleep schedule.

 

Dock to drive is a good idea. Maybe a "yard dog" job to get started.
Check with your county for training/tuition assistance. ALso, community colleges have great programs.
I would be clean for a month or so at least for lettuce.
Talk to a recruiter from a mega-carrier (i.e. Swift, Prime....) about your situation and see what they recommend.
Don't offer any personal information that isn't directly required or asked about. When asked direct questions, answer honestly. This is the line MOST people screw up.
Trucking

 

I don't have any advice, but wanted to commend you for wanting to get off of disability, it seems like most people are trying to get on it these days.