US Army truck driver with trucking school questions

i know you dont plan on it, but after staying in 4 years and then started trucking 33 years ago. i say give it thought to staying with the military, then go trucking. compared to life on the road the military is a better choice, heck do 30 years.

 

my brother served in the Navy for 8 years. when the time came, he had to either take orders to go out to sea again for 6 months which he did not want to do or walk with his release papers. seeing how bad he hated the water, he took the release papers. that is a decision that he still regrets 6 years later. he almost went back in under a different branch, but he eventually changed his mind and used up his GI bill in schooling instead.

 

were will you reside when you get out?

 

Maybe one day, most states will waive the skills test for 2T1s or 88Ms. Heck, maybe, the feds will also make it that way nationwide. To be honest, just cause you have been driving, doesn't mean you should be driving without having someone assess your driving to make sure you meet minimum federal mandates. I have met many operators throughout my career that are exceptional drivers. I have also met a lot of operators who's only qualification they have is they are physically strong enough to lift the hood to do a pretrip. I met one girl that took out three guard shacks on three different military installations before they finally stuck her behind a desk fulltime. Not trying to summarize every service members driving, but I have seen it time and time again were people will get "certified" just to stay on track with their upgrade or OJT. Even if you do get your military driving transferred over, you still will have a blank DAC. It does suck that a lot of carriers require one year of "verifiable" driving before you can get on board due to their insurance. again, I would urge you to look into a school as you head out. I used my tuition assistance to cover $2700 of my cost, and I only used another $1000 out of my GI Bill to cover the rest. You DO get $4500 dollars a year from the military to go to school... This also includes a one-time certification. Make sure you do it on your way out so that it shows you were a recent graduate.

 

Get your CDL before you get out and go to Schneiders school for 2 weeks and work there a year. Best place to lease-option also. Have never heard of anyone getting screwed out of a truck there. They lots of NE to Vallley in TX and Wisc South also.

 

JNaum 1st, Thank you for your service and sacrifice. While you are still in the military start checking into some schools in your area in Tn. There may be a couple of community colleges or even a state school that offers a CDL program, these are usually cheaper and have a lot better instruction since they are not so profit driven. Alot of those "private" schools are nothing but "puppy mills" squirting out drivers and I use the term very loosely that know just enough to either get themselves or someone else killed. You must keep in mind that you will be in a public arena going forward and will have not only the responsibility of driving someones equipment safely but doing so in a way that John-Q- public is also safe. BIG RESPONSIBILITY.... My family and everyone who reads this forum family use the roads every single day and as a professional driver you must hold yourself to a higher standard in order to remain safe...lot to think about...Good Luck in your search and again.... Thank you for your service! I took the liberty of searching some and found this one..Tennessee Technology Center @ Nashville (615) 425-5500....Course is 216 hrs/8weeks and the cost is approximately $ 1,400...

 

2000 for a month of training at school to learn to double clutch is a little expensive. I would vouch for Schneider, it is better than Swift