Planning to attend Swift Phoenix Az. academy in Feb!

I am planning to attend the Swift Phoenix academy in Feb. and I have been doing a lot of research about the company. As you all know there is good and bad posts about every aspect of the job. A little about me, I am a veteran and planning to take advantage of the scholarship they offer. I am a licensed paramedic and have worked in the EMS field for 16 years. I was also a firefighter during the same period of time. I went back to school to pursue a nursing degree and found out that I really didn't want to make healthcare my career. I worked part time delivering bare root trees all over California last year and discovered that I really enjoy being on the road! This job only required driving a 24' bobtail so there's really no comparison. I am really looking forward to earning my CDL and becoming a "real" truck driver LOL. If anybody has any information that might be helpful please let me know. I have been reading posts non-stop for hours already but many of them seem to be a year old or more so I wondered if there have been any changes. Thank you in advance and be safe out there

 

The problem with that is there really are not many jobs of any kind locally and all the driving jobs require experience. I understand that being on the road isn't glamorous but there are many things in life that have been ###### for me so far. Hey if I could make it through a deployment to the Middle East I think I can handle a few weeks at a time on the road. I have been weighing my options and am not jumping into this blindly. I wonder if the "driver shortage" is solely due to the high turnover rate? Either way I feel like the scholarship offered to veterans is a good enough reason to consider Swift alone and the fact that there's 2 terminals around 200 miles from my home (one north, one south) will help me in the long run.

 

I've spent my share of sleepless nights in EMS over the years and hopefully that will give me an advantage. It will be nice to have a guaranteed 10 hours off time! I have noticed so much negativity on various forums and I guess I will have to just find out for myself. It seems that Swift is just like any other employer, it has it's good and bad points and some folks are happy while some aren't. I am planning for my first year to be very hard and not to make a whole lot of money but as long as I learn to be the best driver I can be and keep it between the ditches I will consider that a success.

 

Fortunately I have not been affected with PTSD. I'm sorry to hear about your son and I hope he's well now. I see what you're saying about the job having triggers tho. There are aspects of driving OTR that are not really exciting to me but the long term benefit is what i'm most concerned with. I can put up with a lot of BS for as long as it takes to get me to where I want to be. I know it won't be easy work but I hope it is a positive experience for me. My main concern is getting my CDL and being a safe and efficient driver. Once I have gotten that out of the way then I will try to look at it from a financial point of view.