Comments By Jonathan C.

I am no expert and I can't disagree that studies can be biased. That aside, cigarette smoke makes confined spaces very uncomfortable. I just pray to Jesus that my trainer is a non-smoker. If not, I'll just grin and bear it like when I was in the Navy. It sucked, but I dealt with it.

bear, BEAR IT! Brett we need spellcheck on here!! LOL

I am no expert and I can't disagree that studies can be biased. That aside, cigarette smoke makes confined spaces very uncomfortable. I just pray to Jesus that my trainer is a non-smoker. If not, I'll just grin and bar it like when I was in the Navy. It sucked, but I dealt with it.

I have smoked a little in the past. Found it to be enjoyable but always felt guilty as hell, because I KNEW it was very bad for me. Never really allowed it to become an addiction, I could literally feel the hook setting, I was waiting tables. When I woke up one morning, craving a smoke, it horrified me, and I quit for good. That was over 25 yrs ago. Considering that inhaling 2nd hand smoke is as bad or worse than actually smoking the cigarette, I hope to god my trainer is not a "Butthead". If my trainer does smoke, I hope he AT LEAST, rolls the window down.

just looked this up. the part about 2nd hand smoke is horrible! It's hard to imagine that people still pay almost 5 BUCKS a pack for cigarettes that absolutely KILL THEM AND THE PEOPLE AROUND THEM.

from the CDC - "Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including nearly 42,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure." <---- say what you want, but 42,000 people die a year, because someone ELSE had to smoke. WOW!!

Aviation Anti Submarine warfare operator / Rescue swimmer, HS-15 Redlions on board the USS Forrestal CV-59, 1984-1987

Thank you all so much for all the warm replies. I am also recently (3 years, 5 ?) divorced , it is still hard. Sometimes, only the love of my son, and sweet Jesus himself is the only thing that helps me hold on. An old Dave Mason song comes to me, that was on the radio when my parents divorced when I was young:

" I'm going back to a place that's far away, How bout you, have you got a place to stay? Why should I care, when I'm just trying to get along? We were friends, but now it's the end of our love song

So let's leave it alone, 'cause we can't see eye to eye, There ain't no good guy, there ain't no bad guy, There's only you and me and we just disagree Ooh-hoo-hoo, oh-oh-ho"

GUTWRENCHING!

I had been sleeping in my camper shell in my truck, but one of my !! yr old son's friends, parents, said, "NO, its too dam cold, come with us" I have been there a week!

SOOOOOOO! My meeting was GREAT! I will start 4 weeks training on Dec 7th. and the best part, my CDL test is at their facility! so it will be on the same course I train on!! Also, I needed $495.00 to cover some fees and wasn't sure how I was going to cover it, and I got a pre approved credit card offer from Wells Fargo in the mail today, filled it out online and BOOM! approved! so I've got the fee covered! Plus one of my ex wife's friends wants me to house sit, so I have at least some of my 4 week training period covered. Thank you Jesus!!! I can see everything working out. Like a Phoenix, I am going to rise out of the ashes! I am going to work hard , pay off the 4.5k of debt I have, save $$, and SMILE, SMILE, SMILE!

I am very grateful for this community. I look forward to being part of it and contributing to it! update soon!

-Jonathan

WOW! GREAT JOB! CONGRATS!

I am meeting with Billy Stuart, Director, at the Alliance Tractor Trailer Training Center here in Arden, NC. tomorrow morning at 10:30am. I am glad I finally overcame whatever was keeping me from taking the first move. I am 49 yrs old and have been a computer consultant for the last 16 yrs. I am tired of the up and down and lack of work here in Western North Carolina. It must be the most challenging place I have ever lived in terms of a job.

When I was a young man, I was NATOPS, (Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization) qualified in the Sikorski SH-3H and a winged Navy Aircrewman, and a Rescue Swimmer, so I know I have the drive, and the discipline to get through the training.

If anyone has any advice or information about Alliance or beginning a trucking career as a career change, that would be great!

I'll let everyone know how my meeting went.

Amazing website! just want to thank all of you that make this a tremendous resource!

anyway,

I am 49 yrs old. Not in bad health, I don't smoke, hardly drink. I am a big man. I have very big hands and feet (size 15), big boned is an understatement. I am 6'2" and weight approx. 350 and losing. I had a vertical sleeve gastrectomy. Basically they removed about 2/3 of my stomach. I can't eat as much and don't produce as much Ghrelin, a stomach hormone that increases appetite. so that's all good.

I don't have any real limitations, I have all my limbs working as they should. I only need glasses to read when I'm tired. good hearing. How stringent is the DOT physical. I am a good driver. I just drove across the country twice. alone.

should I go to a minute clinic at CVS, and see if I pass a DOT physical before I apply as a student driver? It's pricey, 138 bucks. I am recently divorced, and I am homeless and sleeping in my camper shell in the back of my Silverado at the Walmart parking lot and that is getting old. I down to my last $700 bucks and no job. I'm in Asheville, NC and there is a fair amount of trucking here. I was a aviator in the Navy, and a Rescue Swimmer. I am a very driven person. I think I would be an excellent trucker. Should I go for it? If I had some stability, My health would improve! instead of stressing out all day.