Better Schools If Price And Length No Issue

As the topic says, if you had GI Bill or another VA program paying the school and/or a stipend as well as Army retirement income which would you recommend and why?

Location isn't really an issue, I live just across the border in Mexico(US citizen, AZ license, passport and SENTRI), but willing to go anywhere to train.

Any other tips for a vet looking to get back in the work force? I'm looking for schools as I have a baby on the way and obviously if I can get something with more home time before the standard year is up I want to be able to take it without needing to pay back anything. I'm not expecting to find local or a lot of home time with under a year exp. but if it happens that'd be sweet.

Get into a company sponsored school.

There are many, but that is the best way to

Is that synonymous with "paid school" or a bit between the "i pay" and "company paid?"

Get into a company sponsored school.

There are many, but that is the best way to

Company sponsored means company paid. Some companies offer veterans different perks. I know Prime reduces the length of contract from 1 year to 9 months for veterans. Prime also pays $900/week during training. I'm sorry I can't give you information on what other perks companies grant veterans. Employees of those companies might be able to shed a little light on that for you.

You can get in touch with recruiters to find out as well.

Check what added C.P.M. pay you get for your service length too. I found out the company gets a good $$ bump, back from the Gov. on hiring vets,

Are you looking to land a local job in Mexico or are you going to move to the states?

There is no Ivy League in truck driving schools. You learn just enough to pass the DMV tests.

There's a HUGE difference between private (schools you pay for) and company sponsored schools. Paying the fees and going to a private school doesn't mean you automatically get a CDL - that only happens about 80% of the time. The other 20% either give up or pay for additional instruction. In my area (PNW) they charge ~$800/day for additional instruction. If you're struggling on something a company school generally just, "recycles" you - allows you to retrain on that week of instruction for no additional cost or obligation. The school I went to only sent people home for failing a drug screen. They didn't hand out CDL's - you still had to earn it - but they greased the skids to make sure that anyone who wanted a CDL would get one eventually.

With your family responsibilities I would recommend the YRC Driver Academy. Training is paid at $17+/hr. No contract or obligation. When you finish training you bump up to Teamster scale with fully paid medical for you and your family. Home daily, weekends off.

I'm from NC and working on my wife's visa so we'd eventually move to NC. I'd probably use my AZ residence address as my "home address" when I started and just drive across the border to my wife on my off days.

I speak Spanish and have the civilian pre approved fast border pass(SENTRI) so if I could earn more doing cross border loads I certainly would.

I'm American and have 0 Mexican ties aside from my wife, no Mexican visa, Mexican residence etc so probably can't work here ...and if it's like most Mexican jobs the pay is sh compared to the US so I wouldn't want to.

Was looking at TMC, but I'd have to use a family house in NC as the address, which isn't an issue but I don't know how that would affect my time going home. How do they calculate "home time?" From the moment you clock out or from the moment you get home?

Also looked at prime and since a poster above said they do 9 month contracts for vets I may call them Monday. Already printed out the AZ DMV CDL stuff to read for the permit test and will watch some videos. Probably head to Yuma the first week of Feb and get my permit.

Are you looking to land a local job in Mexico or are you going to move to the states?

How do they calculate "home time?" From the moment you clock out or from the moment you get home?

Fun fact: you don't have to go, "home" for home time. You can take home time anyplace the carrier drives. Wanna see a Lakers game in Staples center, fine. See your cousin in Missouri, fine. They don't care where you go, as long as they can book a load to get you there and another one to get you back into the freight lanes. You probably won't be able to book home time in Mexico because most carriers don't drive there.

The clock starts when you finish with the load that got you home. Home time ends when you report as being available. Policies may vary by carrier (not by much though). Here are the home time rules I had at my first carrier.

You earn one day of home time for every week you're on the road.

Home time must be requested at least three weeks in advance.

You must take a minimum of four days of home time at a time.

Home time is not guaranteed. They will try to get you home on the date you requested but load availability, weather and other factors may delay you. I spent one Christmas at the Flying J in Rock Springs.

If you're slick you'll schedule your home time to end on a Friday night. Not much freight is booked on weekends so there's a good chance your carrier won't be able to book a load for you until the following Monday - giving you two free days of home time.

Yea, I doubt they'd get me into Mexico but Phoenix, Yuma, San Diego, or Calexico are all close enough. My home in Mexico is only 2 miles as the crow flies from the US border.

That's good to know about hometime as I could in theory use some to visit family in NC at times.

Is there a limit to how much you can bank? Could I work 3 months straight and pull 12 days home time?

How do they calculate "home time?" From the moment you clock out or from the moment you get home?

Fun fact: you don't have to go, "home" for home time. You can take home time anyplace the carrier drives. Wanna see a Lakers game in Staples center, fine. See your cousin in Missouri, fine. They don't care where you go, as long as they can book a load to get you there and another one to get you back into the freight lanes. You probably won't be able to book home time in Mexico because most carriers don't drive there.

The clock starts when you finish with the load that got you home. Home time ends when you report as being available. Policies may vary by carrier (not by much though). Here are the home time rules I had at my first carrier.

You earn one day of home time for every week you're on the road.

Home time must be requested at least three weeks in advance.

You must take a minimum of four days of home time at a time.

Home time is not guaranteed. They will try to get you home on the date you requested but load availability, weather and other factors may delay you. I spent one Christmas at the Flying J in Rock Springs.

If you're slick you'll schedule your home time to end on a Friday night. Not much freight is booked on weekends so there's a good chance your carrier won't be able to book a load for you until the following Monday - giving you two free days of home time.