Posted: 4 years, 1 month ago
View Topic:
Preparing for a Trucking Career with Roehl
One more thing: I've made life-long friends here that I will keep in touch with. I won't mention their names for privacy reasons, but they know who they are. I believe one of their wives follows this diary and I feel bad that I didn't get to post very much while here. My truck-mates and I all agree that we couldn't have done this without the love, support, confidence and cheerleading of our wives and families back home. This has been the closest thing I've found to the comradery and brotherhood I had in the military (three of the four on my truck and the instructor are all veterans). I really hope to run into these guys at a terminal or truck stop some time down the road.
Stay Safe
Posted: 4 years, 1 month ago
View Topic:
Preparing for a Trucking Career with Roehl
Wow, three weeks have gone by so damn fast. First of all, I apologize for the delay in posting. There's a couple of reasons: 1) the internet sucks here at the hotel except early in the mornings and I never have time in the mornings to get on. 2) this is a fun but intense program and the priorities in the evening are eat, shower, call home, study and then go to bed. There's not much time left for other things. I'm a 50 yr old veteran and this is the hardest thing I've done since basic training.
I'm starting week 4 tomorrow. I passed my CDL test (all four of us on my truck passed). I did a perfect pre-trip and in-cab inspection, perfect air brake test, took 4 out of 12 points on my backing (all on the 90 degree alley dock) and 9 out of 30 on my road test (31 pts is failing on the road). Our truck was the only one out of four trucks to test on week 3, day 5. The others are testing this Tue and Wed. Hope they all pass.
Out of 14 people who started, there are 13 of us left. 1 got fired in week 3 for just not being able to master the skills needed to drive the trucks and he had mentally given up.
Don't do this if you're in doubt that you can finish, or if you are a quitter when things get rough. This takes a high level of commitment, dedication and determination. You will screw up, you will have bad days, you will wonder if it was all worth it sometimes, but those moments are fleeting if you stay focused and press on.
Having said all that, this program is top-notch, the instructors are awesome, the equipment is top-of-the-line (remembering that training trucks are put through hell each week). Roehl just received 300 brand new 2020 Freightliners and Internationals. We've looked at and in both of them and they are NICE. It's very likely we will get one of them after phase 2. They are all automatics :(
By the end of the year, so we were told, Roehl will be training and testing on automatics only. We're the last generation of new drivers that will have an unrestricted CDL and it's industry-wide. I will likely never see a manual again in this or any other "big" company. Oh well.
As for week 4, for those of us who have already passed our CDL, we will do close-quarters backing more like real-world scenarios, and do longer drives out of town and on the major highways. We will stop and back into spots at truck stops and learn more about how operations work in Roehl. We will meet our Fleet Training Managers and be instructed about what to do while we're home getting ready for our Phase 2 Driver Trainer to pick us up or meet us. I'm excited and proud but I'm also exhausted and ready to get home to my wife and son for some down time.
Posted: 4 years, 2 months ago
View Topic:
Preparing for a Trucking Career with Roehl
Wed, 14 Jan 2020
Day 3: Started working on the pre-trip in earnest this morning with our assigned training trucks. I have a real good class of 14 people (1 didn't show up) and a great group of guys on my truck. Our instructor is Jordan (He's cool and very good). Then there's Big Jon, 47, from Iowa; John (my roommate), 48, from Georgia; Myself, 50, from Missouri; and Greg, 54, from Indiana. We are all shifting with no problems and our stops, starts and turns are smooth, so we spent a lot of time (1.5 hours each behind the wheel) just driving around the big oval (The Roehl 500) sharing stories and joking and asking the instructor tons of questions about the truck, real world driving and the industry in general.
At the morning break we got a tour of the driver facilities above maintenance. We can come in on the weekend and do our laundry for free in the driver facilities provided we give the fleet drivers precedence since they're only here for a limited amount of time. We all got our MyRoehl App downloaded onto our phones today and got registered. (DO NOT download this app before your instructor has told you to and walked you through the registration, otherwise it causes a ton of IT headaches for both you and the company. I have no clue why, but I do as I'm told, which is the key to success here...do as you're told, when you're told, and how you were told to do it. If you get that down, you'll be fine and will very likely not fail.
To be honest, after a few days in the program, I've come to the conclusion that if you fail here it's because you either (1) didn't take it seriously and put forth 100% effort, or (2) you didn't or wouldn't follow directions and learn from your mistakes and the corrective instructions given with a positive can-do attitude, or (3) you just aren't wired for this kind of job/lifestyle. If either of the first 2 applies to you, then #3 most certainly applies to you.
Fun fact #1 (scary if you fly a lot): Commercial Truck Drivers are more heavily regulated than airline pilots. We learned that day one, hour one. Fun fact #2 (scary if you take on a heavy truck with a personal vehicle): A semi truck carries almost three times as much weight on it's front left wheel as the total weight of the average four-wheel car. Sad Fact: 14 people die every day of the month in a collision with a tractor-trailer rig. Only one of those 14 is the truck driver. You, the professional driver, are carrying the lives of all those on the highway in your hands. Sad Fact: After just a couple of days here, you already have more driving training than most people ever get with just a regular license. In just about two months over the road, a truck driver drives more miles than most average people drive in an entire year.
Sorry for the trivia ramblings. Thought it might provide some food for thought. I'm really enjoying my training here, my classmates and my instructors. I have definitely made the right career choice and chose the right company.
Stay Safe.
Posted: 4 years, 2 months ago
View Topic:
Preparing for a Trucking Career with Roehl
Tue, 14 Jan 2020
Days 1 & 2
Day 1: LOTS of paperwork. It reminded me of my first day of basic training LOL. We got key cards and driver ID's. You are not called students at Roehl. You are a trainee, because you are employed with Roehl from day 1. There was a lot of "Housekeeping" items covered on day 1, like the do's and don'ts at work and at the hotel, and expectations of both trainees and instructors. The instructors, by the way, are cool. They are humorous, good-natured, respectful, but completely serious about their trainees succeeding...not just being able to pass the test, but being a successful professional driver. I'm even more convinced that I made the right career move and that I chose the right company to work for. I have nothing bad to say about any of it.
Day 2: More chapters to read and study in the JJ Keller Truck Driving Manual, then we got the class on the Roehl way, the Save Seven, and the values and priorities of the company. After lunch we split into two groups: half went to the simulator to learn shifting and half went to the trucks to start learning the Pre-Trip. The simulator was fun (we had a good instructor) and everybody in my group of 7 did a good job. We switched halfway through the afternoon. When the day was done the instructors said the whole class did well enough in the simulator (nobody needed "special" lessons) that we will all be driving the trucks on the range tomorrow.
It is cold here. High of 30 today, but the rest of the week is gonna be 20's and teens for the highs. I planned well though and have layers so I haven't been too uncomfortable outside so far. Can't wait to be behind the wheel of a real truck tomorrow.
Stay Safe
Posted: 4 years, 2 months ago
View Topic:
Preparing for a Trucking Career with Roehl
Mon 13 Jan 2020 (Training Week 1 Day 1)
Got into Marshfield last night at 1730, an hour later than I planned. Took almost twelve hours, but it was just due to some intermittent icy road conditions in northern Missouri/southern Iowa and having to clean salt off my windows occasionally. Otherwise it was a nice, pretty drive. Wisconsin is a pretty state. My roommate, J. from Georgia had arrived two hours before me. He's two years younger than me and seems to be a nice, laid back guy whom I should have no problems with. He hit it off quick and after buying a box fan from Walmart (for white noise) we were able to get to sleep around 2100 and slept straight through til 0530. Breakfast will be served at 0600 in the restaurant downstairs and then roll call and a shuttle van drive to Roehl at 0630.
NOTE: The shuttle van only comes on the first day of training, after that you're on your own for transportation. Plan accordingly. My roommate and I both drove our own vehicles and are glad for it. It's 0550 and I need more coffee. Will summarize day one tonight. Stay safe.
Posted: 4 years, 2 months ago
View Topic:
Preparing for a Trucking Career with Roehl
Thur, 9 Jan 2020
Three more days and I leave for Wisconsin early Sunday morning. I'm excited it's finally about to be here. My family finally put the flu behind us, just in time, and now we're getting our ducks in a row for my four week absence. I have one more scheduled phone call with my recruiter on Friday just to confirm that we're still a go and then I'll take off Sunday about 6am. It'll be 42 degrees here and 22 degrees in Marshfield. I've got my layers, sock hat, insulated gloves, thermal socks, coveralls and big safety-green winter bomber jacket. Since my pickup is not a 4wd, I'm gonna weight the bed down with un-split logs so I can get better traction in the snow Wisconsin is bound to get throughout January.
I'll be glad to get this started, and so will my wife. We're both tired of just talking and day-dreaming about it. I will do my best to keep this diary daily. I hope it helps whoever might read it.
Let me say, that so far as the pre-hire process goes, I can't find a negative thing to say about Roehl's process. They are thorough, transparent (as far as I can tell so far), professional, courteous and friendly. I look forward to working for them.
Have a great day everyone!
Posted: 4 years, 2 months ago
View Topic:
Preparing for a Trucking Career with Roehl
Thu, 3 Jan 2020
Last day of work on my old job. I still don't feel real good...this flu bug is brutal. Wife has it now.
Anyway, gotta do another urine drug test on Tue, my last one will be past 30 days by the time I get to Marshfield, WI next week, so there's that. Gonna spend this next week spending time with my family and getting things wrapped up here at home before this whole big adventure gets underway. 2020 has to be better than 2019, cuz it wasn't a good year at all here. LOL
I'm ready to get packed and get this show on the road. Looking forward to it, but dreading the Wisconsin winter weather. Oh well, better to learn how to do it in the worst conditions than have to learn it on my own next winter. Happy New Year to everyone...hope it's a great one for all.
Posted: 4 years, 1 month ago
View Topic:
Preparing for a Trucking Career with Roehl