Swift - Starting the New Year training with Swift 1/7/13 - A long read...

As one vet to another you dont have to go through swift to get your cdl

The gi bill will pay for all of it

 

I don't have my Gi Bill anymore or I would have gone that way most likely. I have been out for 15 years now.

 

Here is what a Swift recruiter told me about their veteran scholarship... just to compare notes. You will need a copy of your DD-214 showing an honorable discharge. With that they will not deduct tuition for their academy as long as you fulfill a 24 month employment commitment with them. If you leave before that you will owe tuition. (Not sure if its pro-rated for the time you do work for them though). Also, since your GI Bill is expired you may want to apply for VRAP. http://benefits.va.gov/vow/education.htm

Good luck!

 

Lol, that is too funny. I hope she (your ex?) doesn't read this!

I almost screwed myself on the second one but I shouldn't have apologized so much to her since we ended up meeting up at a pizza place north of Seattle. Overall she was cool but the issue was that she had been drinking a lot lately, she said, and that when she was sober she was feeling like poop. So, having been there once before with one of my ex's, that was a big red flag for me.

Actually, you didn't jinx me nor am I superstitious. The second date did decide to meet up and it wasn't worth it. The good thing was that I finally found a genuine, decent pizza place here in WA - Brooklyn Brothers Pizza up in Everett, WA. Brought back a calzone with me instead of the head case I met up with.

Not sure if I'm cut out for all this dating stuff just yet. I may have to go the "casual encounters" route they have on some of these sites instead. Besides, as I'm finding out, dating is way too expensive and the R.O.I. is not there.

Yes, there is always one that will say "yes". True. I'm happy that I'm still talking with the first one and she's a freak. Freak in a good way, not psychotic.

 

lol, I'm just reading everyone's posts now so I'm late on the advice. But, maybe that is good. No, definitely it is good.

But, I will say this. I really didn't want to bad mouth the first girl I went out with to make good with the second. Out of respect, even if she wouldn't hear me, I didn't feel the need to say anything negative since the first was pretty cool and I have a decent chance at something with her later. Screw the second anyway, she wasn't worth a fake explanation as I found out!

Good stuff. At the truckstops, unless I have no time I don't mess around with any tough backing situations. Whenever possible, avoid backing if you don't need to. If you need to, avoid blind side backing.

Maybe a little bit of both and neither too. lol

Thanks for your service!

I never did see my recruiter. Mine is based in El Paso, TX and when I hit that terminal I didn't have time to see her. I wish I did.
I'm not sure how the pay for schooling works for veterans but I would definitely keep asking them. Dont' let the issue drop, if that opportunity is there make sure you look out for you and take advantage. One thing I've been learning, and others have said on here, is that you have to make sure you get paid for things otherwise no one else will do it for you. Keep at it and get a definite answer.

Regarding the DOT physicals, I paid for mine at a Swift approved (very important!) DOT physical office. However, when I got to class there was about 4-5 students who had not had their DOT physical and they were taken over in a shuttle to a Swift approved facility and given the DOT physical for free. So, I'm not sure why that was like that. I paid something like $85 and their's was free. I would check into this as well as I'm not sure if it varies from terminal to terminal.

If you have any questions at all feel free to post them here or PM me. I'm more than happy to help out.

 

So, regarding my rogue text message to the wrong person...

She finally got back to me late that night or was it early that morning. She stated that she was hurt by my text and that she had put dates off all week due to me. That was odd by itself since we never made plans prior and the only plans we had were for Friday. Not sure why that messed up her whole week. She also said she had been emotional all week so that was playing a part. She didn't want any more heartache or whatever it was. Weird, again, since we really only have been texting each other, exchanging pictures and we had one phone call whereby she called me after a night of drinking. So, there wasn't really a commitment in anyway. So, red flag #1 was raised on the DocWatson radar...

The next morning, feeling a little bit bad, I texted her one more time apologizing and saying that I would be up at this Brooklyn Brothers pizza place around 12:30 and that if she wanted, she could join me. If not, I would understand. She texted back that she had her grandson until early afternoon and I stated I would just take my time getting there and wait once I arrived. So, I did.

Got there early. I was hungry but to be a gentleman I didn't eat. Sat there sipping a soda for a while fiddling with my phone taking pictures of the menu and different angles of the tablecloth thing. Eventually sometime after 2:30 she showed up as I was talking on the phone with my little bro...I had that weird feeling that someone was staring at me, as I was engrossed in little bro's conversation, and I looked to my right. There she was, all 5'0" of her. I quickly hung up, apologized, we hugged and I pulled her chair for her...

She was kind of cute. Short blonde hair, I could see the darker roots. Sort of a bob or something. Who knows, I'm a guy. Let's just say shorter blonde hair. Had some kind of shirt thing showing the tops of the tettas and that was kind of pleasing. Jeans and a jacket and everything was put together pretty well. I don't know if I've ever hugged anyone that short before but it was kind of nice I guess. I'm 250 so I felt like I almost crushed her but didn't hear any complaints.

I asked her if she wanted to look over a menu. She immediately went to the beers asking for a "red beer". They didn't have it but a Bud Light sufficed. A "red beer", which I'm totally ignorant of prior to meeting her, is a beer with V8 veggie juice in it. It is used for hangovers I am told. After looking over the menu forever, she decided she really didn't want to eat other than a couple of breadsticks. I asked her if she wanted to go somewhere else and she didn't. At times she seemed really engaged and kind of happy then she would dip off into her own world, obviously pensive lost in thought. I asked her if everything was ok and she stated that the only time she is happy lately is when she is drunk and drinking. When she is sober she feels bad. This was sad but for me it was a huge Red Flag. #2. I had a heavily alcoholic ex-fiance and I've had them in my family and I'm not ready at this early in the stage of meeting for this kind of stress. No way.

So, the rest of the afternoon there at the pizza place was ok. Off and on, she was happy and then lost in thought. She explained that she had a lot going on at home with her daughter and was thinking about the passing of her dad a few years back. Again, it was sad and I felt for her but not sure what to make of all of this.

As a couple of bad omens, when we were at one time standing out front of this pizza place a cute girl walking by slipped on the iron grate and went straight down on her back. It looked really painful. I jumped over to help her up but she got up really quickly herself and was embarassed. Before I could give her a hand she got up and walked off. Then, right before the "date" and I leave, an older gentleman misses the step up into this dining room, immediately to my right, and he crashes down face first into the wood floor. It was unreal. I helped him up along with his family and his nose was immediately bleeding and pretty busted up. They sat down and were helping him out as her and I left the place. I ordered a calzone with homemade sausage to go and bought their t-shirt. I walked her down to her car and gave her a hug goodbye. Uneventful. I texted her immediately before taking off on my bike to have a safe drive home.

I never heard back from her.

Relief.

I'm glad I wasn't the one that had to say this isn't going to work out. So, no Romeo here. Maybe I'm just not ready for it. Yes, I'm pretty sure I'm just not ready for any of this yet and will just focus on me and my job. I'll continue to see the first girl whenever I come back this way, as long as she wants to, but otherwise I'm not going to go out of my way for anymore of these unless they really put something into this. I get the distinct impression from this dating site that people want everything in a guy but don't have much to offer themselves. It's all about what us guys can do for them...have this job...look this way...walks on the beach...win an Academy Award...smart but ######...nice guy with a dark side...bad boy who will treat me sweet...ad nauseum. Maybe the women see it the same way as I do with the men. I don't know but the process leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'm a little bit bitter and if I do this again I may just play it like a playa instead of the chump I kind of feel like I've been (not including my first date who has been cool).

So, I am officially ready for dispatch at 0700 this morning. 0700 rolled around and all was quiet on the Qualcomm. Same thing with 1000, 1200, 1400... It's Saturday so I expected this.

I made my way from my truck into the terminal. Once outside at the smokers pavillion I got to talking with a few drivers there. One of them stated that he has been here since Wednesday. I asked him if his truck was being repaired. It was not. He was waiting to be dispatched. That got me a little nervous since I'm guessing he, along with many others, will be dispatched out before me. I asked and he was OTR like me, not a heavy haul driver.

Went out to Puyallup to hit up the Wal-Mart. Got on the bike, went over there and got stuck in traffic for a huge rodeo event at the Western Washington Fairgrounds in Puyallup. Not sure how much ticket prices were but if I was better prepared this sounds like a good time. Wish I could have went. Maybe I'll see if it's going on tomorrow and if its not sold out and not too expensive, I'll check it out.

Saturday night at the Sumner Swift terminal...

 

Man, your luck with chicks gets worse as you try harder. LOL. Depending on your goals, you might need to lower your standards a little bit. "Settle" as it might be. The good news is that with lower standards, you don't get disappointed as often. With that in mind, I'm here to help with sound advice.

You seem to be a road ranger, meaning that you can hang your hat anywhere in the country and call it home. Thinking along those lines, I know Swift has a terminal close to my neck of the woods, which would be Memphis, TN, regionally speaking. Around Memphis, all it's going to take is a 12 pack of cold beer and promises of not making her buy her own dinner. If you can do that, every gal short of Miss Tennessee will be lining up to make your aquaintance.

Good luck, and let me know if you need a wing-man.

 

Bear in mind that the "Smoker's Table" is better known as "The Liar's Table".

 

That's FUNNY!!!

My last wife left me for 2 years before she came back and suddenly wanted to marry me. What she really wanted to marry was the idyllic lifestyle that I had set up for her for eight long years before she took off with a complete d-bag. Anyway, during that 2 years, I did the online dating thing, and had similar experiences. The girls I met ranged from meth addicts to drunks, to out and out liars. You know, the ones with the glamour-shot photo in their profile that looks NOTHING like them in real life (and by the way, was taken 8 years and 65 pounds ago). The ONE decent date where I was really attracted to the girl, she was a non-smoker, and made it clear AFTER the date and the $188.00 dinner and champagne, that she would never have a long term thing with a smoker. I even had a date with a girl who had a GREAT profile and pic, talked with her for weeks on the phone, and when I met her, she was 3 feet tall with a horribly disfiguring spinal defect, something she failed to mention in the 30 plus hours we talked on the phone before the "first date". I bought her a drink, excused myself to the bathroom, and left. What a cruel thing to do. So much for being honest on a dating site and expecting the same in return. I gave up, as I was not emotionally prepared for letdown, nor financially prepared for expensive dinners that led anywhere but back to my place. So, since divorcing, I've been OUT of the dating scene. I ended up meeting up with an old flame via Facebook, and even though it's long-distance at the time, things are looking good. Flying out to her place this weekend to check things out, and if all goes well, that's where I'll be based out of. If not, I'll need some pointers from you on how to get "back into the scene", as you seem to have a good handle on it. Good Luck!
And I hope you get a 1200 mile load for waiting!

 

Hello Doc. I would reply via PM but I need to post 7 more times before I can PM it says. How has Swift been as a company with you since you have gone Solo? Are you getting miles and paid for everything? There are so many companies out there that offer training and its hard to figure out which is going to work best for me. I just talked to a recruiter at CRST and they sound good except for they require you to be on a Team at all times doing OTR. I really want to be solo and not living with someone else I don't really know on the road.
I have read a lot of post about how bad Memphis is and I am suppose to go to the school in Middleton TN which is a suburb of Memphis. CRST starts at .21 cents a mile and goes up from there and you only have an eight month commitment with them. Swift seems like it may pay a little more but not get as many miles. Plus I would have a one year commitment with them or have to pay money back for the schooling.
Thanks again for all the posts you have on here. There are a lot of them so I have not been able to read them all yet but they are well written and detailed! Thank you for that.
I am going to go back to reading some of your post and you may have already answered some of my questions in them already!
Be safe out there and be blessed!