Driving U.S. Army HEMTT To Driving Big Rigs

Good Morning Everyone! (It is 7:52 am, here in the west coast)

I have been perusing this site for a couple of months now and this is the first time I have written. I figure since I made the decision to become a professional Truck Driver and this site has helped me tremendously, I should intruduce myself.

My name is Daniel Campbell and I am a 26 year old U.S. Army Veteran. I first began considering a career in the Truck Driving industry back in 2008 (when I left the army) but I decided against it at that time because I felt I had something good. Well as it turns out I have decided to pursue this career. Anyhow I begun by reading through many of your articles on this site and eventually decided to use SWIFT as my jumpoff.

I have since obtained my Class A CDL Permit (Air Brakes and Combination) as well as my ODOT Physical. I am scheduled to begin my CDL Training with SWIFT on 11/04/13 in Lewiston, ID. I will be calling my Recruiter at SWIFT for my Bus Ticket and last minute information on Thursday.

Some of you may wonder why I decided after all of these years to join the Truck Driving industry. Well I have had some difficulty in readjusting to Civilian life and after reading through all of he articles available here I came to realize that this industry is not a far cry from the military. You see in the military you are trained to perform a job (CDL School) and given orders on a daily basis (Qualcom loads), you are also expected to perform daily equipment inspections and some minor PMCS (Preventative Maintenance Checks and Services). So long as your orders and ongoing directives are accomplished it is not so much of how it is done but that it is.

I have spent the past several years trying to forget my Military Training in force myself back into the role of your everyday civilian (and being entirely too unhappy about it) when I could have been capitalizing on my training and experience by applying myself with the same dedication and drive to an industry with vast similarities to the military. Alot of you might say that my above comparison could fit with almost any position but what other position out side of the military have more rules and regulations lol.

Anyways I look forward to this transition and hope to be a regular here. I will keep you all updated on the happening with the SWIFT Academy in Lewiston, ID. Good luck out there to all of you.

(p.s. to any veterans out there considering a position in the Trucking Industry that might happen to be reading this I will let you know if my assumptions and view on the Trucking Industry as it compares with the Military are right in my next post.)

Big D

Daniel WELCOME!!!! First of all from one vet to another....Thank you for your service sir

Congrats on getting on with Swift. At least I know we will both be cold together lol. I too am starting school on the 4th. I am going with Roehl Transport in Marshfield Wisconsin. I think that's kinda cool 2 of us going through the same time. Hopefully we can give a good compare and contrast between the companies for others thinking about the different programs. Sandman and others are doing a great job already on knight and a few other companies. Guess it won't be long and there will be a very good listing of the different companies on here.

I think you make some very good points in your comparison of trucking and the military for all the right reasons. Maybe that is what has attracted me too, even though I had not thought much about that aspect before now. We are used to the structure, in fact we crave it that way, but still enjoy the freedom to be free thinkers when appropriate. I've seen careers/jobs where there is no structure to speak of and that would drive me nuts. Also we are very accustomed to the "hurry up and wait" concept. Just the way it goes a lot of the time.

Best of luck to you.

welcome Daniel and good luck with your schooling. I hope all works out for you in the trucking industry. although I'm not a vet. my dad is and I would like to say thanks for your time in service. same to all the other vets out there too. have a great day. Doc

Very nice post Daniel! Thank you for your services!

I'm sure you'll be a great driver, you seem to have a good head on your shoulders and your military background will help you a lot out here.

You did forget one comparison between trucking and the military. You have a hard time going home and back to the civilian life? So do we! When I go home it feels weird. Weird to sleep on a different bed. Weird to wake up and telling yourself you don't have to be in a different state that day.

When you go through multiple states each day it sort of becomes an addiction. You start hating being in the same place everyday and it gets annoying after a couple of days. Trucking is a completely different lifestyle than the average persons life. Its difficult to go home back to being "normal" again and in a couple days coming back to your other life.

Good luck and keep us updated.

Tracy, we just added another 'Daniel' to our Daniel Army. And this ones a veteran, like I said before - your GA squad has nothing on us