Jumping in head first ; Army Vet / New Driver

Thank you for the clarification. Discharged under Honorable conditions would have been a better phrase as stated by yourself. I was just wondering when they changed the retirement guidelines.

(GPS MAN) 70% disabled is not usually for a physical reason sometimes. It depends on what they classify.

But, if the OP has pain issues, I would suggest finishing your degree. At least get something under your belt for future life careers. See how well you handle the pain in daily life. Let the tickets fade away for a few years.

 

Pulling the pin to unhook a trailer is going to put stress on your shoulder.

 

You are young enough.. Stay in school and get a degree. Trucking will be around for a few more years.

 

Your image order here is a bit skewed. Army vet here, Combat Medic (I was in when it transitioned from 91B Combat Medic to 68W "Healthcare Specialist", as well), KFOR1, OEF1, OIF1/2.
Fortunately for me, and especially as we didn't have MRAPs then (during OEF, I either rode with the grunts in their M1113s or rode in an unarmored (!) M997 FLA), my IED encounters happened before the EFPs became the norm (they were typically 152 arty rounds rigged up back then). By the way, I only skimmed through your original post... what was your MOS that you got to operate all of those? Because I thought the Buffalos were strictly for EOD.

Aside from what's been said already, just do a little research. This is an extremely high turnover industry. I also notice that a lot of people say they get into this for the freedom of it, and that always leaves me scratching my head, especially in the case of those driving for these megacarriers. I mean, you're out as long as they dictate, you go where they tell you go, they're watching your every move with the Qualcomm (and, in some cases, with in-cab cameras), they're going to put you on 75 MPH highways and make you run 62 MPH, you're always subject to hounding by the DOT... where's the freedom, exactly? Granted, I don't claim to be all knowing when it comes to OTR... during my time as a driver, very little of it was spent OTR, and I was mostly in various construction industries. But still...
On top of that - and, as someone who spent time on the line, this will probably piss you off immensely - you're going to end up wanting to punch out more than one truck driver at truck stop counters and such. Aside from the ones who just plain piss you off by other means, you're going to run into so many fishing stories of falsified grandeur, you'll wonder if the military even exists after a while. That guy about as wide as three of you, with huge flabs of skin hanging off of his arms? Yeah, don't be surprised if he claims to have been a Navy SEAL at some point. What's even worse is the ones who were legitimate vets, but grossly embellish what they were. If you were 88M in Iraq, you don't need to embellish anything - you were in the ####, all the same, and I actually preferred that I was with the infantry rather than motor transport, as a 915 makes a much more attractive target than an 1113. But they will. The guy who was in the Guard during the mid-1980s and never went anywhere becomes a veteran of everything from Vietnam through Desert Storm once they're sitting in a truck stop. The ex-PAC clerk? He's now a Ranger. The guy who has legit credentials as a Cav Scout? Add the truck stop effect, and he was in Delta Force. Yes, it happens like that.
Of course, you should also read the various reports on the different companies here... being mindful that, while there'll be many legit complaints, there'll also be instances where the person complaining leaves something significant out of the story ("well, the company screwed me.... the five accidents I had with them weren't reportable, so that can't be my fault").
In not so many words, don't go in wearing blinders. Just because some driver you talked to at a truck stop claims to be making more money than what they know what to do with, has a supermodel girlfriend in each state, and gets to run 75 in a company truck while everyone else is governed at 62, doesn't make any of it true.

 

There are a lot of companies out there. A Lot. And driver turnover is horrendous - and there are reasons for that, and the company is not always to blame - There are a lot of companies looking for drivers. Just be honest and up front with them about your driving record. They are going to know anyway, if they check you out, which most of them will.

If this is what you want to do for a career - go for it. They keep saying that they will need more than 30,000 drivers by the year 2016... dang if I know where the numbers come from, but that is what they say...

 

a couple things.

1 - don't worry about the testing program procedures, they are uniformed. Chain of custody is where the problems always seem to happen unless you pee positive.

2 - army driving isn't real world driving. I won't tell you my experience with 'army' cdl holders but will say that the couple I ran into seem to be the exceptions not the rule of drivers.

I would get a degree, even if it is in food hospitality and then go into driving a truck. Like someone said, trucking is not going anywhere for along time.