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FORT LEE, Va. - Spc. Jesus Montoya does not plan to use his commercial truck driver’s license anytime soon, but in case he does, he has the comfort of knowing he did not need to spend thousands of dollars at a driving school to acquire one.
The 22-year-old is a beneficiary of the Troops to Trucks Program, a partnership between the U.S Army Transportation School and the Commonwealth of Virginia that provides a free and convenient means for military members and veterans to earn a class A commercial driver’s license. The former mortuary affairs Soldier said the newly-attained CDL will help make him more marketable in the civilian job market.
“For the most part, they’re always hiring people as truck drivers,” said Montoya, now a resident of Metairie, La., and who plans to attend school in the near future. “If you already have a CDL, your chances (of getting a job) are better than someone who doesn’t have one because the company has to pay for training.”
The Army Driver Standardization Office, U.S. Army Transportation School, administers the program here. Its chief said military members can look forward to saving the roughly $6,000, the amount commercial driving schools charge for the training. “It was another way the state was looking to help military members who were looking for a career after they served,” said retired Sgt. Maj. Jeffrey Skinner.
T2T is an initiative started under former Gov. Bob McDonnell, a former Soldier, who vowed to make Virginia the most military- and veteran-friendly state in the nation. The provision of the program that benefited Montoya allows training at military installations and primarily targets service members who lack the experience of those who can qualify for waivers, said Skinner.
The 508th Transportation Company here is responsible for the training. It consists of a two-week course – three days in the classroom and seven days of road training – after students complete a Department of Motor Vehicles written test that awards students a learner’s permit. The final step is a skills test that awards the CDL. The entire process takes roughly five weeks.
The T2T was implemented two years ago, starting with the waiver program that allows highly experienced military drivers the means to obtain their CDL without commercial driver training. Skinner said he would like to see
| Date Taken: | 10.02.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 10.02.2014 08:19 |
| Story ID: | 144001 |
| Location: | FORT LEE, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 213 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Troops to trucks: program allows military members to earn commercial driver's license free of charge, by Terrance Bell, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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