CRST - Training Adventures In Cedar Rapids

Jeremy

I have followed along your journey and I am definitely surprised. Let me share something I am currently going thru. I made a decision last year to let the army to start a medical discharge. I currently make north of 6k a month net. When this all started I was so focused on the short term bs, of what was going on, I truly never thought they would say 20% disability take a severance pay and get out or take 1k a month from the VA and call it a day. We all know that is a HUGE drop in money coming in.

So you ask. What am I doing, well I am trying to get that % up with an appeal which I got to San Antonio next week for. If that doesn't work, then I am going to have to grab my pride, a full bag of humility and ask my 2 star commander to let me finish my last 2 years non deployable so I can get a regular retirement which would be around 2200 a month.

I am sharing this because I made a decision last year that I regret. I should have told the army dr, no i dont want profile that sends me home. But i now have to live with that decision and adjust fire. I hope you are able to move forward and find success. I look back and think of it like this, I made an illadvised short sided decision and it may potentially affect me for ever.

I did not share this for any other reason, than we all make decisions and how we move forward from them will make us stronger so maybe we wont repeat. Life and jobs are not sprints but yet a marathon, and, I wish you nothing but success personally and professionally.

Best of luck Chris

Yeah, I have to throw my hat in the ring here to and say I'm shocked by this development. You seem like a super sharp-minded guy who was really understanding everything we were saying and I didn't think you'd have a problem with this at all. I figured you'd cruise on through and things would go great. You'd shrug your shoulders and say, "Well, that wasn't necessarily easy but it was fun. No biggie."

Some people come through here and I can tell within 5 minutes they're going to need a major overhaul of the brain if they want a shot at making this work. Considering how high the failure rate is in this industry it's safe to say that if you don't expect someone to make it, they probably won't.

But there are always surprises.

I'm most shocked that you didn't say anything to us about what was going on when things weren't going well. The thing that frustrates us more than anything is when someone makes a major life-changing and career-changing decision and then they tell us about it. There's no question we could have helped steer you through it. Whatever problems you faced they certainly weren't the worst we've seen around here.

In fact, Old School probably had the toughest go of it of anyone I've ever seen come through here. After being sent home several times from different programs and then getting a trainer who seemed like a living nightmare I really had huge concerns about him sticking with it. But he just kept soldiering through, and I thought, "Man, this guy is resilient! I love that!" He made it through all that and he's barely spoken of it ever since.

Rainy was another one who had a series of nightmares early in her career, through training and then early in her solo career. Yet she's as good as any driver you'll ever find out there and cherishes her career and the company she works for.

Heck, MillionMiler was homeless, out of trucking, and had nowhere to go and no one to turn to. We encouraged him to keep moving forward, he got on with CRST, and he just passed his one year anniversary with them, his entire life restored.

Once you're past something you're past it. It's only temporary.

So I'm anxious to hear what happened, just like the others are.

'Love that chicken from Popeyes!'

OH YES!!! and the red beans and rice, and biscuits and honey.... well, that blew my diet just thinking about it!

From what Old school has said, I think Jeremy had confused venting about your frustrations with being a terminal rat type of person.

Like if you complain about anything you're one of those people who quit and never make it, so Jeremy never did and let it go to him quitting.

From what Old school has said, I think Jeremy had confused venting about your frustrations with being a terminal rat type of person.

Like if you complain about anything you're one of those people who quit and never make it, so Jeremy never did and let it go to him quitting.

You make a good point. On the one hand we say don't be a whiner. Just tough it out and get through it. On the other hand we tell people to come to us when things aren't going well. So I can see where someone might be hesitant to say anything here for fear we might just say "suck it up, buttercup."

I think for me, personally, I'm fine with people venting. I've said that before numerous times when people have come here to vent. I'm cool with it as long as the person's intention is to stay in the fight and keep moving forward. You don't have to enjoy every second of it, and we already know that getting started in trucking is super challenging. You just can't give up. You've gotta stay in the fight.

I always think of the big picture. This is one of the richest and safest countries in the world. It's also 2018 and we have every technology imaginable to make our lives easier. We have it so easy it's embarrassing. So even when I say getting started in trucking is tough, I mean, how tough is it really?

Compare it to the rest of the world where you have starvation, civil war, disease, repression, ruthless governments, abject poverty, and genocide. In that light, driving a brand new $110,000 American Big Rig around the beautiful U.S.A. with air suspension, climate control, GPS, air ride seats, satellite communications, satellite radio, television, Internet, and a refrigerator full of your favorite beverages doesn't seem overly difficult, ya know?

But yes, Yuuyo, you do make a good point. We do give a somewhat conflicting message.

I agree with Yuuyo's point, but here's my suspicion...

It seemed to me that he and his wife were very close. I'm thinking he shared all his frustrations with her, which I don't think is a good idea during the training period. It's quite easy for us to vent to those who know us best, but the problem with that is they know absolutely nothing about what it takes to get through that time frame. His wife was probably not fully on board with this whole new lifestyle. It's one thing to say you are, and completely something else when you're the one left at home all by yourself and having to listen to your spouse cry on your shoulder all the time about the issues faced during the training period. She would not have the knowledge or experience to help him through it. After awhile it would just end up being too much to bear. She probably got to the point where she wanted this to end, and of course he was right there too.

It's really unfortunate we couldn't help, but we were unaware of the problems. That's what is so frustrating to me.

Maybe trucking is not a good choice for Jeremy, but he didn't indicate that in this latest post. He's got some things to work through. I'm sure he will be back to share with us after he's had some time to get his thoughts together on it.

Jeremy, I am sorry to hear you are leaving CRST after such a short time. I try to stay out of other's business and defer comment/s to those who have the experience. My first 11 days solo have been an "adventure" that has been stressful, frustrating, boring and tiring, but I wouldn't trade it for anything right now.

I hope you are given the opportunity to "get back in the saddle" to give the job another shot.

I'm sorry to hear how things ended up, I surely hope to get the chance to update everyone when you get the chance. Good luck, and I hope everything works out for you Jeremy C!