Comments By Dart

Which terminal are you going to? Each Roehl terminal has its own teaching style.

I went through the Dallas (Grand Prairie) terminal and am now on my 2nd week of over the road training.

A few things to remember at any Roehl CDL school, though:

-No alcohol in your room (be it a dorm or hotel room)

-Listen to your intructors.

-Ask questions of your instructors if you aren't clear on something. The only stupid question is the one not asked.

-Be respectful at all times, especially towards other motorists.

-Study the materials you are given (shift pattern, 4 step turn, pre trip, backing maneuvers, etc...)...it is important.

If you have any questions, just ask and I'll answer the best I can.

Welcome to the forum, Bethany.

Errol posted links to some great information. I can provide some about Roehl specifically for you.

-Roehl typically takes about a month from initial application to school start.

-Roehl states that the hair follicle test goes back 12 months (other people say 6). If this does not come back clean, you most likely will not get hired.

-Roehl also can sometimes be a bit picky as to who they hire.

-From the day you leave for CDL school, you're looking at about 3.5-4 weeks before going home. If you live close enough and drive your own vehicle there, you may be able to go home on weekends depending on class schedule.

-You'll spend anywhere from a couple of days to a week at home before going out with a trainer.

-You'll typically be out 19 days or so with a trainer, then routed to a terminal to test out of phase 2 and be assigned your own truck.

-Once assigned your own truck, you should be routed towards home. Expect to be gone 3-4 weeks when you start with a trainer.

-You'll then follow your fleet's hometime schedule.

The Hazelwood act is for veterans who were Texas residents at the time on enlistment and (if I recall correctly) are current Texas residents. It comes into play when all other VA Education benefits are exhausted and works similar to the Mongomery GI Bill if I recall correctly (It pays you and you pay the school).

Hey so is anyone familiar with the use of the GI bill in conjunction with going to school? Is it worth it? I'm a little late in asking as I've already used mine with Steven's Transport, and they gave me a VA form to fill out that states ill be receiving 1800 dollars a month from the VA which is BAH, and other allowances for On the job training/apprentice program.

Sounds like a good gig to me anyway, but I was wondering if anyone found anything better?

😮😮😮 $1,800 a month. Dang. I'm only getting about $900 a month, which is about average for the companies I looked at.

Keeo in mind that it will likely dip by 20% every 6 months until you either max your available GI Bill remaining, or complete their program (use the max months for that company).

Even though I still haven't received a dime from the VA for it yet (my paperwork is still processing with the VA), I'll give my thoughts on whether or not I feel it's worth it.

I tried going the college route, but that didn't work out for me as I needed the GI Bill money to survive and it was highly inconsistent. As a result, my work/life/school balance was all messed up and didn't work for me. I needed something different and more consistent.

In trucking, I've heard and read many experienced drivers say thay pay the first year isn't very good...in some instances pretty bad. As a minimum, I feel that using the GI Bill for an apprenticeship program in trucking will help to offset that.

As for what the DoL Heavy Duty Truck Driver Certificate is worth to a company...maybe nothing, but it doesn't hurt to have it.

For me, the extra money in my pocket is worth it. When I run out of GI Bill benefits, as a Texas reaident, I can use the Hazelwood Act to get a degree down the line if I so choose.

This probably isn't the answer you're looking for, but I've looked and couldn't find much more than "these training companies are just using it to get money from the government".

With Roehl (where I'm at), apprenticeship program drivers get training that while available to other drivers, isn't required of them (in some cases unless something bad happens). This training culminates in the Trainer Foundations Course.

I can't say with any certainty, as I'm still in phase 2 (OTR training with a trainer). I've been told 2500 weekly is about average.

My trainer for the first week was a reefer driver. He drove about 1600 miles for the first load (about 300 to pick it up and another 1300 to deliver), then I drove about 30 to pick up our next load and about 700 to deliver it, then I drove about 300 ish miles before I got off the truck to go to the Appleton terminal to meet my next trainer. So in 6.5 days, we drove a combined total of about 2600 miles. My trainer still had about another 600-700 miles left to finish the load when I got off the truck.

I've been told that if a driver isn't averaging 2500 a week here, they're doing something wrong. Don't know how true that is, just what I've been told.

Check into Roehl's Hometime Plus fleets. Depending on the location of the nearest drop yard to your residence, you may qualify for one of them.

Some of the options are 7/7 (7 days out and 7 days back), 7/3 7/4 (7 days out 3 back 1 week, then 7 out 4 back the next), and 14/7 (14 out, 7 home). Roehl also has local positions in some areas.

You might be able to get on one of those fleets once your training is complete and not have to do national (11-14 out, 3 back plus 1 back for every additional 7 days out...typical OTR schedule).

Got a call this morning to head to Madison, WI to meet up with my next trainer. However, when I was about an hour away, I got another call saying that that trainer fell through. I was still on the road at the time of the call, so I pulled off to wait for further instructions. A bit later, I got a call telling me to head to the Appleton, WI terminal for the weekend to meet my next trainer on Monday. I've already received a call from him and he'll be letting me know our departure time for Monday. Until then, I'll be hanging out at the Appleton terminal. At least I'll have a fresh 70 when I go on duty then.

Went back to the caves to pick up our load out Wenesday morning. We made it a bit down the road, going through the storms in St. Louis and stopped in Indiana for the night.

About the time we crossed the Ohio state line this morning (Thursday), my Fleet Training Manager called my trainer telling him that he was likely going to be dropping me off somewhere soon so I can get to my next trainer (the trainer I was with for the last week is on the 7/7 fleet and is heading towards home).

I got off the truck in Dayton, OH, and now I sit at the Gary, IN terminal waiting on further instructions on meeting up with my new trainer (there's dorms, laundry facilities, and showers here).

Despite losing the first 3 days to a HAZMAT load and getting off yhe truck a day and a half early, I still managed to clock nearly 1k miles, 2 live loads, and 1 live unload.

Congrats and welcome to Team Roehl!!!

Just about to wrap up week 1 with my Roehl phase 2 trainer. If you have any questions ask and I'll do my best to answer them.

Some of the biggest pointers I can give you is: -No alcohol in the hotel -If you don't understand something...ask -Listen to the instructors -Be respectful at ALL times, even to motorists that cut you off or do something that frustrates you...Roehl is BIG on this...forget calling them names like "4 wheelers" -Communicate, communicate, communicate. -Try to relax. You will get nervous and that's OK, but don't let your nerves consume you. -Keep a positive attitude, even when things get rough (and you likely will experience some rough patches). -Study the shift pattern and shift point sheet they give you...shifting trips up A LOT of new students. -If you find yourself struggling with the pre trip, see if your instructors can provide you with pictures of the inspection areas and write down the part names on them. I've seen this help a couple of students. You'll get plenty of practice on this, so don't let the order of items to check, wording, or amount of items to check worry you. -Don't be too hard on yourself...this was and still is one of my biggest problems.

Again, if you have any more questions ask away and I'll do my best to answer them.

All the best to you!!

I was finally able to drive. Made my first run from north of Green Bay, WI to the Springfield Undeground in Missouri. That's an interesting place to deliver to. Junior Honduras on YouTube has a good video of it for anyone reading this that's never been there and wants to see what it's like.

Overall I'm doing well with my driving and adjusting well to life on the road. I still have a lot to work on, but this was only my first load and a heavy one at that (grossed 78k).

I'm settling in to a point where driving on the interstate and in general is more comfortable, but I still have some situations where I get pretty nervous.

I still have a lot to work on with it, but I'm doing OK with my backing. It really is fairly different than in school.

The paperwork and communication side of the job is pretty easy, and I'm getting it down pretty quick.

So far I'm enjoying it and am still excited about it. It's kinda funny, you hear a lot of drivers complain about reefers and parking next to them, or even with one themselves (which I do not blame them or fault them for, they are noisy), but I had the best night of sleep I've had in a long time last night when our reefer was running. Don't know if it was the "white noise" (I always sleep better with white noise) of having the reefer running, or if I was just that tired. I've still got at least a couple more days of running reefer, so I should be able to figure that out in that time. If it's the noise of the reefer that helps me sleep, I may check into switching to the reefer division (I'm set to be in the dry van division, but I was placed with a reefer trainer).