Am I Too Young???

Raymond, I'm sorry, I momentarily forgot that you were dealing with that probation issue.

Here's something else for you to consider in your situation. If you go ahead and get your CDL now, but can't find employment due to the probation issue you could be causing yourself another problem. If you sit on that new license for say about three or four months without being able to land a job then most of the companies can't hire you without a more recent training certificate. Which means you will need to fork out more cash for what they call a refresher course. There is a continuity to this whole process that has some importance in being able to get a job. Just thought I better let you know about that so that you don't get ahead of yourself, spend your money and still can't get any results.

Another possible option is what I did. Drive a school bus at an outfitter. I drove at a canoe/rafting outfitter in Missouri for one summer with A Cdl class B. This will give you some good experience. I know some of the other drivers did not have a Cdl and the owner still let them drive, but he encouraged them to get the Cdl and let them borrow a bus for the test. He said this lowered his insurance rates.

Raymond, good luck in whatever you do in the future.

As everyone else has already stated, you need to go to one of the schools to get your CDL so you have the min. 160 hours of training. Then you'll have to do more driver training with whatever company you end up working for. With so many NEW drivers starting out almost every company requires this path as a requirement to be hired today. Most of which has to do with them being able to insure you. So it is the insurance companies that are reqrequiring this path for NEW CDL drivers.

One other think you have not mentioned is the legal troubles you are going though. Most companies want a clean legal record for the past 3 years and some are as much as 5 year. I suggest before you start anything you research some of the companies you might be thinking of going to work for and find out what their requirements are as far as a clean criminal record are concerned. Knowing this should help you decided what drection you need to go and help you with a time line for you to get your CDL. Hope it's helps out a little and again good luck.