Profile For Ty R.

Hi Baron T.

That photo looks like the training yard I checked out in Lakeside/Santee. At the one I checked out United & Western truck schools were sharing the same yard. Assuming you went to United, how was the training there, crowded?

I called Yuma Truck Driving School. They said $3995 (about the same as Western & United I would have thought AZ might have been a bit cheaper than CA) for the 160 hour class A and said they could transfer it from AZ to CA DMV for pick up at El Centro or any of the DMVs in San Diego, no problem. I do take that with a grain of salt. I might have to put in more leg work than they led me to believe. It looked like they had a large paved training yard on Google Earth.

Hello Old School,

Thanks much for sharing your insight and experience.

Damn, I'm a good catch!

I have read about convicts being trained and hired. Don't I deserve a chance too? ;)

You do know that was meant as a joke, right?

You are a big red flag! You've been out of the country for 17 years! Honestly I think you would do yourself a huge favor by establishing some stateside work history. Surely you have some sort of skills or talents that would allow you to keep a job in San Diego for a few years. That's what I would recommend. Establish some work history for yourself and then jump into trucking.

Red flag? Why? There are millions of people living, working, going to school and just plain hanging out in countries that are originally from other countries. In America we welcome people from all over the world. They don't expect to get "red flagged" by their home countries. Unless they come from countries with oppressive governments. I'll stop myself there, even though my opinions don't stop there.

As far as working for a few years and then trying to break into trucking...That's not an option. I don't give up that easy and I have only been trying to educate my self for 6 weeks now and I only really started diving in after the holidays. So yeah, lots to learn.

Again, I appreciate your input.

Ty. Welcome to trucking truth.

There is a guy who just posted on the main forum about his experience with CR England. It would be worth asking him some questions.

Hi Papa Pig,

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I believe I saw the post you are referring to and I did give him a reply.

From what I have read so far Wil-Trans, I think Wilson & Jim Palmer merged, both sounded like good companies to get on with. Good luck to you. I tried and could not get hired due to no verifiable work history.

Congrats, thanks for the good review of C.R. England. Seems like I have read so much negative.

After talking to several companies they seem to want a recent verifiable work history. That's fair enough. But I still want to train and drive.

I have not worked in the USA since 2003 in Guam for 8 years. Before 2003 I have a good verifiable work history including 4 years driving aircraft fueling tankers in Virginia where i got my pilots license too. Since 2003 I've been out of the country traveling and just returned early 2020.

Thanksgiving weekend it hit me. I decided I wanted to drive trucks. I still have the traveling bug in me. I don't want to do the same thing every day at the same place. Also, with the pandemic it seemed like a good choice of work as to limit my exposure.

I'm in San Diego and have been looking into schools and I don't find myself getting very excited about the schools here. I called a school to ask some questions and asked along the lines of why I should pick that school and what they offer vs. other schools. I was told that the instructors were very cool and not so strict and would go easy on me. After I got off the phone I was thinking I should have asked if the examiner would go easy on me too. Two of the bigger schools if not the biggest here are United Truck Driving School and Western Truck School. They both share the same training yard. Whats up with that? We aren't that short of land here unless they are owned by the same people. Its a dirt lot shaped like a long narrow triangle with no facilities other than an outhouse and no shade. It just looked too narrow and cheap. I guess a truck/trailer could do a u-turn at the wider end of the lot. Actually I just measured the lot on Google Earth. The widest part at the entrance is 50-52 meters wide. More than I thought. From there it just got more narrow. The other two sides taper to a point a ways down. I only measured the max width.

I thought about going to a school in the Los Angeles area there so many schools only 100 miles away from me but I would have to pay for lodging and it would cost as much as school for 6 weeks in a motel. Plus I would need to get up there for a few days just to check out the schools to see which one might be for me. Arizona even has many schools.

So I was thinking paid training and called around and did online applications. That's when I realized my work history is going to be an issue. Originally I wasn't considering paid training cause I read about less than ideal living conditions at paid training facilities.

Now I'm confused and worried. If I go to a school and get my CDL will any companies hire me considering my work history? I don't have any other issues. No tickets or DUIs, no arrests, warrants or other legal problems ever, no drug use and don't drink for 2+ years, excellent credit. Damn, I'm a good catch!

I know there are more companies I can look into. I have read a bit about C.R. England and CRST and am holding off on contacting them. But what if I do talk to them and my work history is an issue with them as well? They seem like sort of last chance. Maybe my impressions are wrong.

I will get a DOT medial card and my CLP by end of this month. I've been studying as well as doing research.

I have read about convicts being trained and hired. Don't I deserve a chance too? ;)

Do you good & knowledgeable people have any ideas, points of view or advice?

Cheers & Good Year to you All

BTW...I applied for paid training on this website before I posted this.