Only logged 19 drive hours in school so far. Is it normal to be afraid of the truck?

It.must be, my company sends a new grad out with a teainer for 5 weeks, thats only 35 days and while it would.never happen.if the Student drove 70 hours a week and dis nothing else.it would still only be 350 hrs...

That's some school!

 

The whole school wasn't that way, they were a separate group doing their own thing. Mostly doing nothing most days it seemed, at mine at least. I doubt they saw 1000 at mine though even being there 6 months. The teachers there weren't the most motivated bunch around.

 

Could have been a typo, might have meant 100. At the cre refresher I personally only drove for about 3 hours, good thing I wasn't that rusty. At swift they tried to make us have 16 hours with at least some of it at night, but we never kept tight track. So the way I see it, 100 of just you driving would be pretty good.

 

You mentioned trucks with automatic transmissions. I drove a Volvo with automatic for about a month, in all terrain, mountains, everything, and it was the best driving experience I have ever had. Didn't have to worry about downshifting in the mountains or upshifting at any time; it was all done for me, automatically.
Volvo loaned the tractor to the company for us to try, because the company was ready to purchase some new tractors. Several of the drivers used it and all preferred the automatic afterwards.