Update. Retirement And Werner

Well I finally retired from the army last week. 24 years as an armor crewman. Lots of mixed emotions. Happy for the milestone, but like trucking , career military is a way of life and I am gonna miss some of it. TBH I was stuck at a desk for the past 3 years instead of being on a tank which was my true passion so I didn’t have much in the way of job satisfaction. Got my cdl back in February and have been waiting. Now it’s time. Have an orientation set up with Werner at there ATL terminal on May 27th. That was the closest date they had due to smaller class sizes with the corona virus. I am lucky that I have an army buddy who works as a trainer with Werner and they said I can request him. He was a good NCO with the military and was a damn good trainer there so I have no doubt he will teach me then eat he can. I was able to ride with him as a passenger last week and already learned a ton just from shadowing. The biggest lesson I learned is when returning from your shower at the Pilot/Loves, keep your eyes at mostly ground level and don’t look around or you may see something you do NOT want to see! I inadvertently looked at a truck window and saw either an old woman/man/Jaba the hutt, shirtless, rubbing down pasty, saggy breatsticles in the cab with the light on with not a care in the world 😂😆. Now I know . Hope y’all are well, and if anyone is interested in the troops into transportation program I posted that experience in the training diaries

In the title I meant UPDATE and really need to word check before I hit submit lol

Congratulations on the retirement. I did that myself in 2012.

Best of luck with your new beginning there at Werner later this month.

Congratulations on your retirement Papa Pig! I hope to retire in 2024 and start my new trucking career shortly after in 2025.

Congrats Sir!!! and Thank you for your service. Sounds like you have things in order. Look forward to following your progress.

Thanks guys. Tbh it feels weird being out of the service. I think that’s expected when you start something at 18 and end at 42. I don’t know if other companies give you employees access to their sites but Werner does. So until i leave for orientation I am trying to get ahead of the power curve by studying up on all the company policies and whatever I can to keep myself busy. They have over 500 classes on their e learning option. Hopefully they won’t make me retake the mandatory ones during orientation but if so oh well. They have lots of useful info and it seems they try to set their drivers up for success. My buddy has been there for 3 years and really enjoys the company.and from what I saw in my ride along I think it will be a good fit.

Ok , I’m now officially a Werner employee. Orientation Made the trip from Alabama up to Lithia Springs, Ga Tuesday evening and got checked into the hotel. The room wasn’t bad. Overall the hotel was pretty nice. You have to pick up breakfast the night before in a brown bag.

Wed morning the shuttle showed up to take ppl who didn’t have their own transport to the terminal , which is about 2 miles away. I was able to drive my own car to the terminal. For those with rental cars they drove to the terminal and turned in the keys.

Day 1 Wed was the physical and drug test which was urine and hair ( I told them to get the grey hair from my chest) and a lot of paperwork . Lunch is provided. More paperwork, and towards the end of the day the instructor took us out to a truck and showed us how Werner wanted a pre trip conducted.

Day 2 Thursday. Showed up at the same time And did a bunch of computer based training and more briefings . Lunch was provided again. After lunch a lady came in and told us what accounts we were scheduled for and that all cbts had to be done for the next day. And now all we had to do was wait for our drug test results to come back and for trainers. We were cut lose around 3pm.

Today Friday I waited at the hotel until they said I was good to go for my ua results and talked to my trainer. Lucky for me I was able to come home to spend tonight and I will drive to him tomorrow and get put in a hotel. (My experience there is a little different because I know my trainer and requested him specifically)

Overall impression is that I was treated very well. Everything was ran very orderly. Lots of info, lots of things to accomplish but was treated with the utmost respect and our instructor Robert who was in the safety department had just came off the road with a million plus miles under his belt answers every question to the best of his ability. They were very upfront about the safety policies. Get caught doing a uTurn =get let go. Get caught sleeping on the side of the road or Underpass=get let go. Idle when it’s appropriate, but don’t run your truck constantly or go way out of route.

Most importantly and I heard this a lot “You are the captain of your own ship”

I am proud to be part of big blue and am ready to start cranking out some safe miles. Hope y’all are well!

Ok , I’m now officially a Werner employee. Orientation Made the trip from Alabama up to Lithia Springs, Ga Tuesday evening and got checked into the hotel. The room wasn’t bad. Overall the hotel was pretty nice. You have to pick up breakfast the night before in a brown bag.

Wed morning the shuttle showed up to take ppl who didn’t have their own transport to the terminal , which is about 2 miles away. I was able to drive my own car to the terminal. For those with rental cars they drove to the terminal and turned in the keys.

Day 1 Wed was the physical and drug test which was urine and hair ( I told them to get the grey hair from my chest) and a lot of paperwork . Lunch is provided. More paperwork, and towards the end of the day the instructor took us out to a truck and showed us how Werner wanted a pre trip conducted.

Day 2 Thursday. Showed up at the same time And did a bunch of computer based training and more briefings . Lunch was provided again. After lunch a lady came in and told us what accounts we were scheduled for and that all cbts had to be done for the next day. And now all we had to do was wait for our drug test results to come back and for trainers. We were cut lose around 3pm.

Today Friday I waited at the hotel until they said I was good to go for my ua results and talked to my trainer. Lucky for me I was able to come home to spend tonight and I will drive to him tomorrow and get put in a hotel. (My experience there is a little different because I know my trainer and requested him specifically)

Overall impression is that I was treated very well. Everything was ran very orderly. Lots of info, lots of things to accomplish but was treated with the utmost respect and our instructor Robert who was in the safety department had just came off the road with a million plus miles under his belt answers every question to the best of his ability. They were very upfront about the safety policies. Get caught doing a uTurn =get let go. Get caught sleeping on the side of the road or Underpass=get let go. Idle when it’s appropriate, but don’t run your truck constantly or go way out of route.

Most importantly and I heard this a lot “You are the captain of your own ship”

I am proud to be part of big blue and am ready to start cranking out some safe miles. Hope y’all are well!

Congratulations Papa Pig. Good luck with your buddy, those close quarters will test any friendship. Lol. Be safe out here!

What account will you be assigned?

Packrat

I know that it’s not recommended for rookies, but I’m going to do the Dollar general account. I will either be successful or get my ears pealed back.

I rode with my buddy on the account for a week and really enjoyed it. So we shall see.