Trucking has long been a great career for veterans after serving their country. Trucking allows vets to serve America in another way, by keeping our economy running.

Because truck drivers are in high demand, multiple organizations are dedicated to encouraging more people to join the industry. One effort to bring awareness to truck driving as a career for veterans is the “Transition Trucking: Driving for Excellence” award, given to one veteran who is now on the road.

Transition Trucking Winner Announced

This year’s winner is Ashley Leiva, and she won a Kenworth T680 Next Gen as a big (literal and figurative) prize.

Leiva is a US Army vet with almost 16 years of service. After returning to her hometown in Corpus Cristi, Texas, Leiva graduated from a trucking school and took over her late mother’s trucking company. She renamed the company as Noemi Trucking after the name of her mother. The company hauls crude oil.

Leiva said, “This is certainly a very special moment for me. My mother inspired me to go into truck driving. She said driving a truck made her feel like she was on top of the world”.

Transition Trucking Partnership

The award is given through a partnership of FASTPORT, Hiring Our Heroes, the US Chamber of Commerce, and Kenworth Truck Company.

FASTPORT is a software company that helps employ veterans. The company is also a trucking industry intermediary for the US Department of Labor.

Hiring Our Heroes is a nonprofit organization dedicated to help veterans, former service members, and military spouses to find employment. Hiring Our Heroes is under the US Chamber of Commerce, which is a private, non-governmental business lobbying organization.

Kenworth, of course, makes awesome trucks and provided the excellent award.

Why Is Trucking Great for Veterans?

Trucking remains an excellent choice for transitioning veterans. Our service members are used to extensive travel, unusual schedules, and physical labor, which are all traits favored by the trucking company.

To make the most money in the trucking industry by driving long-haul or OTR (over-the-road), veterans are already used to staying away from home for long stretches of time. Trucking is also one of the few careers left that pays well without a four-year university degree.