Comments By Andrey

Well, they do exactly what they are supposed to do - making sure that you get your CDL. You are lucky to have both knowledge and experience, so you really don't need anything from them but a chance to get tested.

As I have told OP, I did both types of training, so here is my story of a private CDL training. It was soon after the virus hit. I had to close my bakery and was looking for an income. Driving a truck was number one on my list. I saw an ad in a local paper about free training for unemployed, and decided to visit their office. I did not apply for any benefits, because I did not want to be unemployed, just the opposite, but I was told that they can pay for almost any kind of training at hundreds of places - community colleges, universities, trading schools, etc. I asked about CDL and they send me to NETTTS, paying about $7,000 for a 200 hours class. It was scheduled for weekends, took about 2 months, the school was 20 minutes from my home. I started a small welding business at that time and had enough of free time on werkends, so the whole set up worked well for me. The only problem was that because of virus state troopers were not coming to test us. I was ready to test, but had to wait. And as nobody knew how long it would take (it was summer of 2020), I decided to sign up with a company and do it all over again... Any way, I got some knowledge and experience at NETTTS, plus you cannot beat the price :-)

It is really hard for me to understand how people are shelling out $7k for a small piece of plastic which is available for free at so many places!

Why limit yourself with Colorado? If you decide to do New Hampshire, let me know, I am ready!

Apparently, some people wirh testing concerns can make it! LOL

If Russia were intervening purely out of an interest in protecting the separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk and enforcing their claim of independence, the invasion would have been concentrated on Donetsk and Luhansk, and not the entire nation.

It is not possible to protect Donetsk and Lugansk staying within its borders.

Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014

There is no point in repeating this propaganda cliché. Crimea was not annexed. People of Crimea had a vote and decided to be part of Russia, just as they used to be in the past.

They were never truly allies.

You need to remember that Soviet Union was the only one out of three allies who fought on its own land and did the main fighting. I think the whole idea of these three countries being allies was political: US and Britain were investing resources trying to limit Soviet influence in Western Europe after the victory.

Andrey, did you come from one of those places? Please give us some basic description of what life is like in those places. What it like to be a truck driver there.

Bruce, I visited these places many years ago. Most of what I know comes from my relatives who live there. I don't want to move this thread away from our general topic, so I'll answer very briefly: Donetsk and Lugansk is a coal mining region. It does have universities and theaters, but still the majority of its population is treated by Ukrainian authorities as dumb and retarded. In 2014 people claimed independence, pretty much like Americans did in 1776. Ukraine called them separatists and declared war. Since then people of this region have been fighting for freedom. Unfortunately, I cannot say anything about truck driving there - I've never driven anything bigger than a minivan before I came to America twenty years ago.

What we're seeing is a completely unprovoked act under false pretenses

Are you sure you have enough information about life in Donetsk and Lugansk republics to make such claims?

As someone who has experience with both types of schools, I can tell that you will get a much better and faster training at a company sponsored school.