My Experience with CR England so far......

Getting ready to talk with my soon-to-be Father-In-Law, Dan the man. In my other thread, I mentioned talking to him about trucking since I am new and he has been an O/O for 20+ years. I will fill everyone in on his advise to me soon.......

 

AF461,

Severence pay and disability at a 40 percent rating is in fact what they originally offered me at the beginning of my medical process. For the sake of not having to explain the terminology to everyone.......I just say I am retired since I now draw disability for the rest of my life. You are correct though....I am not retired....was medically separated. My end result after fighting the board and refiling through the VA, my severence check was $62K with a disability check every 1st of the month for the rest of my life. I was injured while serving in Iraq and the result was that I was no longer deployable.......was forced out, wished to stay in but the board rejected my letter and my CC's letter.

 

Okay, I'm officially signed up for CR England. Here are the items required to bring as mentioned from the recruiter.....

1. Birth Certificate with state seal on in. (Not the original hospital certificate)
2. Social Security Card or Receipt from the Social Security Office showing applied for. Also, if you have a Social Security Card, IT MUST NOT BE LAMINATED!!
3. If prior military, bring DD214. ( I am taking member 1 and member 4 copy )
4. 2 forms of proof of address within the last 60 days. (Original utility bills, no copies)
5. Voided Check for direct deposit of pay
6. $50.00 for administration fees
7. $47.00 for license fee
8. Bring your own money for food (You will not eat if you don't bring money for food.)
9. 1 week of clothing, toiletries, hygiene, wash clothes, towels, etc.
10. Notebook and pens for class notes, etc.
11. Drivers License (They will be transferring your license to an Indiana License).

My itinerary is as follows:

> Depart Grayhound at 550 AM
> Arrive in Gary, IN at 1010 AM
> Call shuttle service for pick up at Grayhound
> Same day Urinalysis and DOT Physical (Get plenty rest night prior and morning of)
> Back to hotel
> Class starts Monday morning.....Early!! DO NOT BE LATE!!

Hope this helps someone out if they are looking for what to expect. I will be sure to post more as I find out more info.

 

It's okay, I didn't think you were trying to call me out. Are you going to be going through a training course offered by one of those companies to get your CDL?? I have been calling companies for 2 weeks now and England and CRST are the only 2 out of 15 that I have called that will hire me without a CDL.

CRST wants an eight month contract as a team rider just to pay back the training loan and pays $300 per week for that time. After that, the recruiter stated the the pay per mile was .31 or .32 per mile. I did not ask if the training pay was taken out of the $300 training pay.

Schneider, CTI, Western Express, USA Trucking, NFI, National Van Lines, and Star Transportation are just a few of the companies that I have called that DO NOT take on anyone without having a CDL and atleast 6 months experience.

I chose to go with England over CRST because England's school is cheaper and the weekly pay to start out is $430-$55 for training. It gets me a CDL and experience, plus there are 3 different options for the type of driver you want to become. Unfortunatley, there really only seems to be one way to make really good money there, which is to become a Lease/Owner and to become a trainer when permitted to do so. Ofcourse, one would have to always have good miles per week, and limit home time. But you and I being prior military, we are use to that right? I think trucking would be an excellent job to get into after retiring out, or becoming (Medically Separated).

 

Thanks and best of luck to you as well!!

 

Just wanted to fill everyone in on the latest. I decided not to go to England......there were just too many warnings on this forum. Even with extensive research, something just didn't feel right to me. It's a good thing that I have decided not to go because I would have been sent home from training and the reason being.....I have a suspended license from another state. I currently have an Ohio drivers license....it is valid....but my previous license was suspended because I failed to notify the VA DMV that I moved to Ohio. It had something to do with registering for new tags on a vehicle that I sold before I moved to Ohio. Anyways, thank God that I found a company that offers a CDL in return for an 8 month contract with them as a team driver. Long story short.....the recruiter was very very informative, which was the reason why I even thought of checking my previous licenses from other states. The pay is better, the pay per miles are far better, and most of all.....even the recruiter laughed at the idea of someone new getting into the trucking business getting into leasing a truck with the company. Even though leasing is an option with this company....she strongly encourages her recruits to wait for atleast a year. So.....with all that said, I really thought that I would have went to CR England without ANY problems. I'm not saying that it is England's fault because I have a suspended license from another state, I'm just putting this out as a head's up to anyone else going to England.