Comments By Mr. Curmudgeon

PackRat, I know you are in IL. Your Crossman is likely under 700 fps so you dont need foid and it's not considered a firearm. The key elements are "single globular projectile not exceeding .18.inch or whuch has a muzzle.velocity not exceding 700 fps" (BB's are .177 cal, most bb guns are about 550 to 600 fps).

The super bb guns (900+ fps) rifled and set up to shoot .177 cal pellets are firearms. Some would also, if they were bellends and wanted to mess, could say that a pellet shooter using a .177 gun at less than 700fps is using a firearm since they arent using the globular projectile. As them NYC fellers once said.. "Its Tricky".

... As far as laws go, I don't know of any state that outlaws carrying bb/air guns in your vehicle or concealing air guns. So this could be a possible solution workaround. Check out Airforceairguns. Good stuff.

Ryan, Prickster's Pigsty on the Prairie (ok, Illinois) statutes define a firearm as any item which expels a projectile .18 inch diameter or greater at a speed in excess of 700 fps. IL FOID ACT - FIREARM DEFINED

I can't speak for any other state, but I am certain that there would likely be at least several of the other "woke" States with similar laws. I spent 28 years immersed in knowing and applying the nuances of the Illinois Compiled Statutes, and I am a strong supporter of 2A. Supporting 2A also means expecting adherence to the laws on the books. Large bore, >=700 fps IS a firearm in Ilinois.

While a company may proclaim themselves free of legal restraint... if you are going to carry one of these, know with certainty the laws in each state you'll travel, and forget crossing any National borders...

Andry, won't disagree. Will simply throw in the caveat that some reasonable defensive uses of a pistol could rise to the level of potentially a felony depending on where they take place. I am not a subscriber to the theorem "better tried by twelve than carried by six". Prison is not a kind place, especially for those of us who are leosa qualified

Brian, I think it is possible for you to get hired.

Apply. Discuss, acknowledge your mistakes and dont, imo, try to color them as anyone else's but your own. Rationalization is never your friend with an oops on the record.

Like Anne said, the refresher, or even going back through a paid CDL course with a company, is a definite possibility given the 'stale' nature of your 30 days of experience.

Each outfit (and their insurance provider) will have different levels of risk they will accept. The only way to find the places that will accept your risk is to apply to places. Many places. Their hiring teams will be able to discuss your circumstances and let you know. It will bw time consuming, but worth the aggravation

Good luck to you, and keep us posted on your progress!

I'm LEOSA qualified since 2013. None of the outfits I drove, or drive, for permit carry. Many destinations prohibit firearms anywhere inside the fenceline. I didn't carry while working, but do everywhere else...

A 3# drilling hammer, a can of OC or bear spray, and a 360 persistent awareness attitude would a more tenable option, imo.

Jones, from your tremulous uncertainty about driving, a realtor gig would DEFINITELY be a better match for you. I can see you as a Mr. Gandolfo Renaissance Man.

Maybe even get that sweet Cadi?

Brian, Not going to belabor the shoulda woulda coulda, you've already lived that. I will say for anyine else that heat, nausea, and cramping are signs of a heat injury. If you stop perspiring or urinating, or you produce urine looking like tea or coffee, 911 is the route to take. The life you save could be your own. Or mine.CDC Heat Injury Info

Use the link hereApply For Truck Driving Jobs and here Paid CDL Training Programs (depending on what kind of feedback you get) on applications.

Putting apps out will give you that chance to talk to a recruiter. Good luck to you.

Donna, hang tough, Lady!!!

Mine trucking (FULL time anyway) ended after triple cervical spinal fusion, recouperation, and recommencing for a few months.

Follow, religiously, the advice of your medics. Follow the clues your body and your common sense give you. Youve been driving long enough that you must have some common sense (not to mention you didnt deny what was happening and keep going!).

Keep us posted, as you care to. Im back to looking for part timr local work. I miss the road.

Jeremy H., i do think Scott and others are correct tho. Give Prime a chance to make this work, I would advise your wife to stick it out until she sees what resolutions Prime comes up with. Sometimes personalities, idiosyncrasies, and perspectives can make the training situation miserable. Addressing those, and getting a trainer that has different pip's, is often what is needed for a succesful start or restart. A hasty exit could result in an inability to thrive in the profession.

This is not an easy thing, to let someone into your mobile office for weeks at a time. Some folks aren't, or stop being, right for it. Wishing you and Your Beloved well in this.

Scott, gotta respecrfully disagree with you. There are a ****load of families that have to survive on two working parents, with kids of all ages. Many of those families have a parent (dad OR mom) living in a ****box country in a GP Medium, surrounded by sand and people that wanna kill them.

I was a cop for 28 years, and had to listen to similar commentary from old dogs and newbs as well (especially directed at women in the job). It never flew with me then, and shouldn't fly anywhere. We can't in one breath laud the benefits of the driving profession with recommendation to OTR to learn, and in the next breath tell ANYONE that they should stay home to raise the kids. My dad traveled 5 nights a week when I was growing up. Ya, it sucked. My mother, however, grabbed the bulls by the balls (all three of us boys) and managed the household. Gid Bless the OP for giving his wife the latitude to run with her goal.

If you have been with your outfit for 2 years, have a decent driving record, and no prior failed inspections, you will probably get and oh poop letter in your file, have to get some remedial training, and you will have that on your CSA score for three years. That is if you have proven yourself to be a valued employee. 10 above the limit isn't great, but it is not the worst it could be. Good luck.

Okay, Jonathan. Like a school bus filled with kids, stopped atop an active rail Crossing with a BNSF mixed-mode rolling in it 45 miles per hour, full emergency stop engaged, all the horns of Hell shouting out for your attention, you have managed to keep us riveted. Even though we know we should look away, we just cannot.

I keep reading your responses and have gotten more and more disgusted with your behavior. Sorry. According to your profile you have been a member here for not one or two, but OVER FOUR years. In that four-plus years, you have not made any posts, you have not contributed any photographs, commentary, or, for that matter given any indication that you were even alive. Ya, I looked. Maybe it was deleted by someone. The evil Werner cabal, perhaps?

Instead of coming to the forums to ask questions, like many others have done, you enter a job for which you allege you were not properly trained, you took an assignment for which you were apparently not prepared, you ignored the four pesky little letters on both of your mirrors, and when sh** went south (as often happens to those who are unprepared, either intentionally, willingly, or through ignorance) you get fired.

Then you wander in here to make your debut posting, griping about how you were a victim, you weren't trained, the sun was in your eyes, and a rock was in your way, it wasn't your fault, expecting us to "Oh, Jake" for you. And in your debut posting, you abjectly fail to acknowledge that you ignored a resource that you had available to you for over four years. Four years. You, sir, are no victim. You are complicit in your failure.

How long ago did Werner fire you? What did you do in the time between Werner and bus school? What was the overall time it took you to complete the bus driving training, coursework and all? When did you take the bus driving practical examination? Did you pass it the first time? What feedback did the dot examiner give you upon completion of the exam?

I ask these questions because I suspect you're a sad lonely miscreant who needs the attention generated by the ongoing drama you wish to spin for us. You should simply stop trying to convince us that you are the victim of someone else's negligence/malfeasance, and get on with life. Any life.

If I cared to give up any more minutes of my life which I shan't ever recover, I would ask to see a photo of your CDL-A with the passenger endorsement. However, even if you have one, you will never be satisfied until everyone kneels at the altar of "Jonathan is, certainly, the most victimized ever to sit in a CMV driver's seat."

So you're not driving a school bus?

I give up.

Not sure where you're based, but I have a pair of cutters that I bought at Menards that did the job perfectly as well. Yes, these are a made in chynah item, but they have a lifetime warranty - if the blades stop working take them back and they'll give you a replacement. Used mine for five years cutting cable seals off of intermodal containers, never had an issue. And they're ten bucks vs. forty.

(Sorry, ran out of characters)

which is another long story that I'll get more into.

Jonathon, why is it necessary to belabor this? Why must you try to convince everyone that 1) Truck driving in the worst job choice in the universe 2) Werner is the worst outfit in the world 3) Dollar Accounts are the worst job in the nation and 4) You were woefully set upon by fate and circumstance?

Dude, staying angry about stuff that has happened in the past will only turn you into the school bus driver I had when I was 9 years old, Mr. Schillinger. Les was an angry man, and getting onto his bus morning and afternoon was NOT a pleasant experience. I'm over 60 now, and still remember him. On the other hand, I do also remember Mrs. Schoger - Bobbi was so short she had to have blocks of 2x4 bolted to the pedals so she could clutch, brake, and accelerate. She was one of the most cheerful bus drivers I ever had, and being a country kid I rode the bus from third grade all the way through high school. Never a care in the world, even with the cheaters. I hope that your apparent dwelling on the past isn't making you a Les, and that instead you are a Bobbi.

Accept the past. Learn from it, or ignore it as you choose. But you won't change it, and to be brutally honest, you're starting to sound like a you-tube denizen seeking clicks for spewing anger, frustration, and self-proclaimed victimization. I could be wrong. I usually am, if one were to ask The Beloved.

I wish you some kind of peace in your career moving forward. You're hauling our Nation's kids to school. Be a force for good. We need that.

Jonathan, sorry that freight transportation didn't turn out to be as lucrative or enjoyable as you obviously hoped and believed it would be. Is it a tough, sometimes crappy, oftentimes frustrating job? Yep. Does it take a year or longer to figure it out? Yep. Did you have the opportunity to read and study the information that is contained here on TT before you took on the dollar account? Seems like either you might have known about TT (since you've been affiliated here for over four years), or you may have seen the site but didn't realize the depth of honest input you'd receive here.

In either case, you are here now. There are downsides to EVERY industry, as a previous response reflects. If you're happy driving a school bus, then by golly be the absolute best school bus driver you have the ability to be. Wishing you every success in your chosen profession, don't let it be a job but make it a profession. That will make all the difference in the long run.

You obviously have grievances with your choices and their outcomes. The bottom line to me, and what many considering this profession as their career should consider taking away from this discussion is "There are challenges in this job. There are a bunch of people on here, moderators and non-moderators alike, that want people to be FULLY informed before they start driving. Trucking Truth is a decent place to get informed before the challenges overwhelm. I should take the time to ask the questions that I have, and see what information lands in my toolbox."

Many years back, in a previous life, there was a sign posted on the wall in the cleaning area at PTI in Champaign, IL: "Every person owes some portion of their income to improving their skill in their profession" or words to that effect. Taking the time in the beginning to spend that personal capital to explore, learn and prepare for the profession will move anew driver light-years forward in being prepared for the challenges that exist.

Wishing you great success and satisfaction moving forward. Peace.

Another possibility, costly but possibly feasible, is to contact an attorney to seek an expungement, or to bring that ticket back up and change your plea. You may be able to pay an attorney to reactivate the case and enter into a plea agreement with the state to change the charge from reckless driving to failure to reduce speed, or following too closely. In 28 years as a cop, I saw those kind of shenanigans happened in court quite frequently. It's not wrong, it's just using the system to your advantage.

You will still have a weight in front of you, quite likely. It just would not be as long as having a blind plea Reckless on your record.

Morris is a good facility to go to. I typically would drive from Plainfield out to Plano. People were always nice and they take CARE of cdl drivers rather than brush them off. Plus, my fave gun shop and the Rural King are all right near there, too.

West Chicago is the only burb location that offered the driving component, iirc.

Matt, you may remember a guy named George. A family named Willis. A mini-van in flames in Wisconsin.

George Ryan and his merry band of misfits at IL-SOS, if I remember correctly, were the catalyst for many of the rather odd CDL rules that now exist in IL. That is what I was told a decade or more ago when I first started looking into retiring from one job and starting the driving job.

Seth, you are in the perfect situation to go OTR and thrive in it. You say your long term goal is a food service job - do you mean driving trucks that deliver food products (Sysco, DOT, US Foods, etc) or are you referring to being a restaurant worker / manager? If the former, go OTR for a year and learn what it really takes to drive safely, manage your time, and get into and out of tight spots (you'll have a ton of them!). If, on the other hand, you're planning on driving a truck to save up enough $$$ to move to WA or OR, so you can quit and take a restaurant job, give some thought to that. If you are not committed to making driving, whether OTR, local, etc, your life's work for a good long time, you'll always be looking for the easy way out. That is true of ANY career. Driving a truck. Preparing food for others. Being a cop or a firefighter or a medic. That is my opinion, based on over 30 years of working in a couple of those careers.

As for a dating and social life, being local driver is likely to limit your social / dating options to friday nights (likely late), Saturdays, and Sundays. The local work for many of us is a 12 - 13 hour day, not including commute. You probably will have a set start time, and you'll likely work many a 12 hour day, and a 14 isn't unlikely. You might even get a 16 tossed in there as well. You'll hopefully get good money, but you're going to run long days and short nights. And you still need to factor in food, hygiene and commute.

I can't speak to the challenges you may face with Prime or Schneider. I have, however, worked local and OTR. I actually preferred OTR, but I was on a five day out, two days home rotation. That schedule option is not difficult to locate once you have a year's experience, just start looking around and you will likely find an outfit that can provide that as an option - I did (and got hourly pay as well, started around $19/hr and worked some weeks right up to my 70hr limit, most weeks upper 50 to low 60 hrs). This is a field that is relatively easy to enter, but challenging field to succeed and excel in. That said, however, at your age with no definitive responsibilities or dependents, you could easily become your driver manager's rockstar peformer.

If you're willing to.

Good luck in your decision!