I started learning how to drive a truck about 2 years ago as part of my job. I'm a full time Diesel Mechanic for the CO Army National Guard and our shop is the main one for our state, as such we are asked fairly often to transport equipment. Even though we're running civilian/commercial trucks/trailers since they have Government Plates on them I wasn't required to get a CDL to drive, once I proved to the boss I had it figured out he signed off for it to be added to my military license and I was good. The shop did finally pay for me to attend a truck driving school last week and I passed the Skills test Monday on the first try. So now that I've been hauling equipment on a quasi-regular basis for the last 2 years and have my Class-A I'm wanting to pick up some extra money and experience driving on the side, mainly weekends. The problem is though that having just received my Class-A I'm considered a "student" driver and the only work out there from what I've been finding as I call around is for full-time OTR. Is there something I can do to validate my previous experience? And where are some good places to look for weekend runs?
Because pics are worth so many words, here are a few pics I've taken of some of the different loads I've hauled for my state:
Our shops main truck, Freightliner w/ 550HP C15 and Eaton 13spd
One of the other shop's 92 GMC White w/ 450HP 3406B and Eaton 13spd
Took this up and over I-70 for steep grade training, it was my "test" before the boss would let me drive on my own
Here is my scale receipt from it, we don't run scales but I wanted to see what I was weighing in at. This was with nearly empty fuel tanks
This is my shop's 92 GMC White cab-over. Same specs as the other one, I absolutely love this truck as long as I have a good amount of weight on it.
Here is another one of the 92 cab-over's that we had converted into a roll-off
I haven't taken pictures of all my loads and I do have more. I know I'm not some seasoned driver with a few million miles under my belt, but it would be nice to be able to have what experience I do have count for something. I would love to stick with hauling equipment (although I'm not picky either) and am wanting to try to do weekend work in the mean time so I can have that much more experience for when I retire from the National Guard in the not so distant future. Also this whole sequestration and furlough business has me wanting to make some extra money to help cover the bills. I'd rather drive a truck then work at McDonalds.