My DS, C1,and USA Truck experience

Excellent KCtruckin. Thank you for the heads up. Helps to relieve some of the stress.

 

Got my confirmation call today from DS. Leaving Sunday for orientation beginning Monday. Hopefully the terminal in Van Buren has wifi, so that i am able to update this thread.

 

Alrighty- Been a few days since ive mustered the strength to get on my comp. Ive been pretty #### tired. Got here Sunday night by bus. Shuttled to Travelodge. Orientation starts at 0630- that is the actual time they open the door to get into the orientation room. You will start out in a line down the hallway- so have your CDL and social security card handy. All students including c-1's will be placed in the Marriot de USA Truck suites. I strongly advise if you have the extra cash 100 bucks give or take a few dollars to get a room where the OTR's and O/O's are staying. USA uses 2 different hotels. For this orientation the experienced orientee's are staying at the Travelodge. A bit of advice- I lucked out. When they call out all students to get a room key- hang at the back of the crowd. If they run out of rooms at the terminal you get a free room at the hotel they are keeping the experienced folks. I used a bit of strategy by hanging in the back of the group and am now staying at the lodge. But that depends on the size of the orientation and how many students are in it. We started with 65 people not sure how many of those are students. A few got booted the first day. Be prepared to do a lot of waiting around on the first day and a little bit of paperwork including an application. Today we did more paperwork. Log book class and test. Its not that bad at all for those of you like me who might be concerned. They were pulling some out for interviews. They feed you breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Its not the greatest, but its food and not that bad and not coming out of my pocket this moment. You will need money for when you hit the road with your trainer because it could take a few weeks to get you paid. They told us our first few checks could be mailed to our home/or address listed. My opinion so far is USA is a good company to work for. Most of the people here are very nice. One who isnt very friendly. Kinda seems to have one of those attitudes like- You're a trucker and I'm not so that makes me better than you type attitude. Luckily she was only there for the first half of the first day and we havent seen anymore of her ( yet ). You will know who im talking about when you meet her or here her talk... Thats about it for now. if you have any questions or comments ill be checking this frequently now that my schedule is acclimated.

Big John

 

That must be the hotel they use sometimes in Van Buren. We are at the Travelodge on Towson road in Fort Smith. Nice place. Microwave, and half size mini fridge. Cleaned everyday. Many food establishments nearby. Mexican, McD's, chinese, and a good ole western sizzlin. They will shuttle you to Wally World if you need anything. Today we did the rest of the paperwork, half the class worked on computer training while the other half split up into vans and practiced the Smith system. So might want to catch up on it. Not a huge deal tho- but helps to be familiar with it. They gave us our new ID badges and a ComData card. Hopefully headed out tomorrow with my trainer... If i hear from him...