Profile For Tam

Your replies are all very helpful really. I appreciate your in depth comments about this.

I can only give you advice from my experience being in the Army / deployed for a year. Wash the important parts when you can't get a full shower. Face, neck, pits, crotch and feet. That will at least keep you from smelling / feeling funky should you need to go a day or more without showering. Keep a couple of gallon water jugs and bulk bag of microfiber cloths with you so that you can at least make that happen in a restroom or anywhere.

I feel overwhelmed by all the information that is out there and really not getting a good feel for the direction I need to go. This site has helped tremendously though.

Thank you!

Does anyone have anything to say on this? What's out there for us?

I was just looking at Tampa Truck Driving School and another local Vocational School offering driving instruction. TTDS looks pretty turn-key but it's $2,000 more than the Vocational School. It's also 6 weeks shorter. How does that work?! Obviously the faster I can get through proper training, the better but that's a lot of difference in length of training. From TTDS: "The cost of our program is $5000.00 and there is about $400 worth of fees you will need for your DOT physical, drug test, CDL permit, CDL exam, and CDL License. But you don’t have to pay all of that up front if you don’t want to. You see, 100% of the companies we place our students with have up to 6-15 thousand dollars in tuition reimbursement. They will pay for your schooling just not up front. What we do is finance it for you, and then you get the company you go to work for help you pay it back. So all you need to get started is $200 out of pocket for Physical and License, and we will finance the rest of your fees and tuition. Our in house financing option doesn't even require a credit check. As long as you are qualified for job placement, you are qualified for financing options with Tampa Truck Driving School. What makes our financing even better is that your student loan payments don't begin until 60 days after you graduate. This gives you a full two months to get out there driving, start making some money before you have to start making payments towards your tuition loan."

My concern is that I'm clueless and so I'm here looking for good advice from those of you who have been in the industry for a while. Thanks for your help.