Deployed to Iraq looking at Trucking as a Career. Help Please!

Never lease a truck as a new driver, they will run you good for a little while then you can plan on starving, losing your truck and go in debt for the truck. The company will then lease out the same truck over and over again make a fortune.

CR England tries to get you to lease before you know any thing about the business!

 

Avoid trainer companies and megacarriers . The VA should pay for schooling at a community college . Then look for a civilian government job .
http://jobsearch.usajobs.gov/search.aspx?sort=rv&vw=d&brd=3876&ss=0&FedEmp=N&FedPub=Y&q=truck+driver

 

alot of retired vets say to stay in the army.. but it's not like it was when they were in.. i manged to catch the transition and i know why they would want you to stay in.. before the BCT's came around it was great.. you were in your Batt with all of your people and everyone looked out for everyone else.. everyone in your chain was knowledgeable on your specific field (means no dumb stuff to deal with) now we're in BCT's and you're mixed with people from everything from 11BangBangs (infantry) to them dudes that work on the drones.. and dont let the biggest ##### in your chain of command be an 11BangBang, cause then favorites will be played.. They'll get more jumps, less details, and more ammo at the range. ever been told you only got 40 Rounds to qualify with and if ya dont make it you're #### out of luck? it's gotten bad.. i'm not sayin get out and look to trucking. and i know it's hard for reserve to do the education thing cause how your status changes... i'd just think really really hard about it..my dad hauls scrap metal and crush cars and they cut his hours back from 40 to 35. now he works in the shop just to make up for the lost hours

 

Go to college!!!! dont say I didn't try to tell ya..lol

 

If you're really serious about going to training company and are in their area I would check out Millis Transfer. Pretty decent co. Good starting pay. Or you could learn in military. Where you stationed in Iraq? Hope you have a good Christmas feed at DEFAC.

 

Stay out of trucking, nothing but a dead-end.
80-100 hours on the job...works out to like 7 bucks an hour.
No friends, family, or social life whatsoever
Worthless bennies with high co-pays.
Working 15 hours, paid for 9.
Living out of a tin-can for weeks on end.

The better (best) driving jobs are drying up.
Most will never see one of these type jobs.
I'm talking the likes of Kimberly-Clark, Roadway, Kraft Foods, Complete Auto Transit, Owens-Illinois, Double Diamond, Hennis, Milliken, JP Stevens, Rayloc, Johnson ML, Terminal Transport....the list goes on and on and on of bygone carriers that once paid a ####.

Just forget it, I'm serious.
The rubbishing around for chicken scratch is truly ignorant even if you're hoboing around.
.25-37 cpm is a complete joke.
Holy Moly, they paid that (the good ones) 15-20 years ago!!!!!

My advice: play your cards right and use the GI Bill and get into the healthcare field.
Much better pay/bennies/working conditions than you will ever find driving and living out of a truck 24/7.

Case in point: I had a swollen knee and decided to do an ultrasound last week.
Lady was making $32.00/hr (for all hours worked...what an interesting concept!).
That my friend is not rocket science either as the computer does most of it.
She just puts a gel on the skin so the scanner rolls smoothly and the computer does the rest.
Oh, she only works 4 days a week.
Home every night. Knows her family.

 

As Paddington stated the health care field has the most jobs out there. There is NO driver shortage with the economy down and carriers closing there doors daily! Sitton in Joplin, Mo just shut down and that was like 700 - 1000 drivers out in the cold! I have 32 years experience and not ONE single company would hire me because of age, experience and knowing they would have to pay me what I'm worth! They would keep training rookies, using them up and discarding them so they can start the cycle over as they have dropped pay to BELOW 30 CPM!

Also go to 3 W's. usajobs.opm.gov/ and follow the links for good government jobs! But PLEASE rethink the trucking until things pick up but if you still want to drive go to a college or tech school for the training! way less money out of pocket and you have a better choice of how you get hired with these bottom feeder training companies!

 

Soldier, I really don't have any advice for you about the trucking industry.
I simply want to say "Thank You!" for your service, and Merry Christmas!!

Judi Kay

 

from a positive side I started out 1 year ago in trucking and I love it. yes it is slow now but I would recommend getting on with a flatbed company, being from the military you would probably not mind the hard work and tarping, working out in the weather. money is great from march to november hit and miss during winter.

 

on a different note real quick..
I wonder if/when this healthcare bill goes thru, surely the government
isn't gonna allow these doctors making millions of dollars a year as
they are now off of"big insurance" to do so any longer..I hope not.