Profile For Jake W.

Hey folks, 4 months ago I posted on here about considering the trucking career and asking for some pointers.

Update - As of right now I've been licensed and hired with May for 2 weeks and I'm set to solo out either Friday or Monday.

OTR, 48 state range. Super excited about getting up and getting going. (The 4 foot "commute" from sleeper to "work" isn't bad either)

~Jake

Hey folks,

Just a quick update - I've been researching (youtube posts, forums, web investigation) and I'm going to do the thing. As of a few minutes ago I've submitted to the VA to see if the timer on my GI Bill has run out (Montgomery, for those in the know. If it has, I know the post-9/11 bill still applies) and once that gets resolved, it's on.

IITR definitely looks like the best option for training in this part of the country and looking even further ahead, I hear some good things about Schneider as far as "first year of driving" goes. Any recommendations there?

Apparently my requirements for "home time" are less than most people so that's a good thing. My ideal is a day and a half off at a semiregular interval (1st and 3rd Sat, 2nd and 4th Fri, something like that). The way I look at it this is essentially like being deployed (I'm prior Navy) with better pay, better scenery, a more relaxed dress code, and about the same level of oversight/regulation ;)

IITR, good to know. I'll be reaching out to them later on. Also, just as a side mention: Having looked into some of Chris's photos, i'm actually kind of excited about the space availability. (Having what looks like a stove in the truck breaks my brain). Semirelated, when I was military I had what amounts to being a twin-sized bed and about 3 feet of room from the bottom of the mattress to the overhead. Given that I'm 6'3" you can all imagine how this went but hey, I made it work, living there for about 6 months at a time.

I'm guessing some kind of built in locker space, but I'm going to ask anyway: Where do you keep your clothes?

I generally like gadgets (and automatic transmission) so that's generally good to hear.

As for the type of person, the only thing I am unsure of is the "problem solver" requirement, mainly because of being mostly ignorant about the problems being solved. I like to think I'm pretty good at finding workarounds for different situations but this is a totally different animal from 95% of the things I've done before.

As for the rest, I'm former Navy (Deck Dept. into Ops Dept for those who also served) and currently make a living dealing with all kinds of people (I work on the phone). I tried a different type of driving a few times (Non-Emergency Medical Transportation) and would still be doing it if a) it paid more than $11 / hr and b) I had more time to myself. 34, no close family to speak of, you can probably see why I'm looking into this :)

Hey folks,

Brand new to the forum, account's only a few minutes old, and saying hi. I finished reading the "Raw Truth..." online and I'm wondering a couple things: 1) If I'm reading right, the book was written in 2007. I imagine most of the content is still applicable today, but I also imagine that a great deal has changed in the past 10 years in such a way that "to take the plunge or not" has a few extra factors in it. Am I right?

2) Assuming I'm right, are there any recommended schools / companies I should look into out here if I would like to learn more?

~Jake