1st Week Done!
Topic 32349 | Page 1
Keep that attitude and keep avoiding those toxic few you wrote of. That bunch will probably eliminate themselves either during training there, or shortly afterwards.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
1st week with Swift done, ELDT computer training complete. Long week behind a computer is in the past. At the Swift academy. Been a good experience so far. Many of the managers and Driver managers have been present around the building, all have been very nice and welcoming people. The facility is great from everything I've seen.
Some of the other students are a little iffy. Seem to be pretty hot-headed and I feel uncomfortable associating with a couple of them. Very loudly are vulgar and vocalizing unhappiness with the computer training repetition.
This next week is all range practice, backing and pretrial stuff. Can't wait to get it rolling!
Keep that attitude and keep avoiding those toxic few you wrote of. That bunch will probably eliminate themselves either during training there, or shortly afterwards.
Jaybird, huge Kudos man!!
Packrat is 100% correct, and then some. Hang in, hang on! Pen a diary in that section if you find the time.
If you are overthinking this, or questioning ANY thing... HERE YA GO: Per G'Town ~ Egos and Downfalls.
Best to ya; Glad you've got this going, good sir.
~ Anne ~
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Driver Manager:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
I'll update as this and next week goes on. Super excited to start the backing and pretrip on the range. Big couple weeks ahead!
I'll update as this and next week goes on. Super excited to start the backing and pretrip on the range. Big couple weeks ahead!
You should start a training diary.
Jaybird, that’s good to hear about your training. Every journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step, so keep putting one foot in front of another.
I definitely agree with PackRat, avoid the negative people. Bad association spoils useful habits.
Right on Jaybird. Do your thing and ignore the loud characters; some people like that are lashing out because of their inadequacies and are looking for someone to commiserate and validate their misplaced anger. Heck, many of them will probably be here today and gone tomorrow. I've seen this everywhere I've ever worked; it's not just trucking.
Keep on keeping on!!
How are things going with training?
Hey! Things are going well.
Today was the last day of the 2nd week. All week was backing on the range, practicing pretrip inspections and most of us are doing really well and applying ourselves. Couple of the guys are a little lazy, sitting on the bench laughing and smoking, not participating as much as they should be but so it goes.
Backing has been great, there is a new Trainer at the academy, very cool guy, decent guy, commends us on things we do correctly and provides constructive criticism in a great tone and manner when it's needed. He's vocalized how he feels as he watches all of us that are participating and helping each other. He seems genuinely happy when we accomplish the task at hand, work together and succeed and he's just a genuine dude. Gonna be a great trainer.
1 more week to go! The itinerary is continue pretrip, backing exercises, and road training before our testing week, excited it's getting closer and I'm confident in my backing, confident in my pretrip, and starting to feel confident on the road portion.
Overall it's been a great experience, enjoying most everything thus far and the managers have been awesome.
The recruiter I had. His name was Scott. He's called every week and sent messages through driver Pulse, he keeps asking if I have any questions, anything I need done. Making sure training is going well, and he makes sure I know how to get ahold of him if I have any questions I need answered. Surprising that a recruiter is involved as much as he is, as no other student can even get ahold of their recruiters. Happy with him. He's also I great dude.
1 thing I kind of complain about, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to complain but it's been hard to adjust to:
The on road portion, the trainer continues to demand the signals for turns, he says things like: "you are going to be making a right turn at the stop sign, put on your turn signal". Thing is, he makes us do it, before we've passed or cleared all potential right turns we can make. Meaning I have yet to get to, and clear an intersection, before I would then travel almost another block to make the turn. Several times cars, and other trucks have what I assumed seen the signal, turned either in front the same direction, or to their left thus impacting my travel pretty badly at times, and then he gets mad they do that. Often times we must signal more than 300-500 yards in advance. When I try to bring it up, he says "hold that thought" then proceeds to go on about, slow down, look for this in the turn etc. Then says sorry we can't talk and answer questions we only have a limited time on the road and he needs to teach not engage in conversation. He also was filling out paperwork, and got mad I didn't check my mirror on a right hand turn, in the yard lot, when I checked the mirror twice, left an excessive amount of room during the turn, the other student said I checked my mirror too, he then said "well you need to be watching it through the entirety of the turn. I just said ok, im sorry and submitted but it was very frustrating as we had another student ahead of us mess up a right hand turn and hit a pole so I've tried to be very aware and check that mirror as much as I can. But I just say I'm sorry and let it be. 1 more week til testing and hopefully the mentor stage will be good.
It's been fun to see everyone progress and gain confidence, a couple guys i really enjoy training with, made some friends I think I'll be in touch with after we get out on our own. Swift has been awesome, office guys have been great and friendly. Looking forward to the rest of the journey!
BMI:
Body mass index (BMI)
BMI is a formula that uses weight and height to estimate body fat. For most people, BMI provides a reasonable estimate of body fat. The BMI's biggest weakness is that it doesn't consider individual factors such as bone or muscle mass. BMI may:
- Underestimate body fat for older adults or other people with low muscle mass
- Overestimate body fat for people who are very muscular and physically fit
It's quite common, especially for men, to fall into the "overweight" category if you happen to be stronger than average. If you're pretty strong but in good shape then pay no attention.
TWIC:
Transportation Worker Identification Credential
Truck drivers who regularly pick up from or deliver to the shipping ports will often be required to carry a TWIC card.
Your TWIC is a tamper-resistant biometric card which acts as both your identification in secure areas, as well as an indicator of you having passed the necessary security clearance. TWIC cards are valid for five years. The issuance of TWIC cards is overseen by the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.
Have you asked about Top Gun. If not, I'd highly recommend it.
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1st week with Swift done, ELDT computer training complete. Long week behind a computer is in the past. At the Swift academy. Been a good experience so far. Many of the managers and Driver managers have been present around the building, all have been very nice and welcoming people. The facility is great from everything I've seen.
Some of the other students are a little iffy. Seem to be pretty hot-headed and I feel uncomfortable associating with a couple of them. Very loudly are vulgar and vocalizing unhappiness with the computer training repetition.
This next week is all range practice, backing and pretrial stuff. Can't wait to get it rolling!
Driver Manager:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.