A better life is driver-school lure for many

Steven Covington of Bethel Heights checks his mirrors while backing up during a truck driver training course.
Steven Covington of Bethel Heights checks his mirrors while backing up during a truck driver training course.

James Main is a veteran of the National Guard and Operation Desert Storm. He worked in a turkey plant before getting gangrene in a hand from a piece of turkey bone. He has been a rural mailman, worked at a carpet and tile store, opened and closed his own brokerage company and delivered heating and air-conditioner parts. Recently, he decided truck driving was the path forward.

"It is hard work," he said of the job he now has delivering beer for a local company in which he carries thousands of cases a week. "And it may not be for everybody, but I've never been afraid of hard work."

"It's not the same as standing there and watching chickens go by or anything, which is not something I want to do."

People come to the decision to get their commercial driver's license from different angles. A few of the same core reasons motivated many students at Mid America Truck Driving School in Springdale, like financial security and autonomy. They're all betting that the time and money spent on the commercial license will pay off better than maintaining their status quos.

Charlie Welch comes from a "long line of truck drivers. I guess you could say it's in my blood." He used to have a Class A commercial license and worked in oil fields across the U.S. and Nigeria before being injured.

Now he's looking to get back into the industry. "Whenever I had my Class A before, I loved it. It's good money," he said. "Yeah, there are times you're gone a lot from your family, but the reward you get is even more."

Like Welch, Frank Richardson suffered an injury that forced him out of a truck. He returned to commercial driver's license school years later, has ended up driving local routes for Simmons Food for $17 per hour and is "enjoying it very much."

Greg Campbell also was sidelined by an injury, on a construction site. He chose a commercial driver's license because, he said, "I'm tired of making minimum wage and am looking to make a better life for my family."

To Hussain Jaber, the license represents a financial gain over what he has been making at a roofing company. He immigrated from Syria in 2006 and plans to join his brother who is already a truck driver. Driver teams can make more money by maximizing driving time.

The Mid America Truck Driving School costs about $4,000 for a five-week course. Companies and organizations offer scholarships, but those generally require a stint at a company.

To get his license, Corey Marler would start his days at 6 a.m. to get to class by 7:45 a.m. He left class early to make it to his night shift at a foam signage board factory where he worked until 1 a.m. After squeezing in a few hours of sleep, he would do it all over again.

"To be able to give your attention to school while working a full-time job has got to be tough, emotionally, physically. I respect that he made the choice that he thought was best for him, but I also wasn't sure he would be able to finish," Doug Carter, founder of the school, said of Marler.

Marler is now a driver for Crete Carrier Corp.

Revlis Raymond saw driving as a way to regain financial independence after years of cancer. As English is the Micronesia native's second language, the test was difficult and took him 10 weeks. His new job driving has been hard physically, he said.

"My back and my feet are killing me. I asked to switch to a regional route, an automatic transmission or a driving team," he said. "The money is pretty good though."

Steven Covington was forced out of the trucking trade years ago after an injury. He decided it was time to return to find better pay and a way out of his previous job managing a local Whataburger at nights.

During commercial driver's license school, he sacrificed sleep to keep his bills paid by maintaining the job. Once his shift ended at 3 a.m., he would drive home, sleep a little and then wake up to drive his disabled brother to work by 6 a.m. He'd end up in the driving school's parking lot early and sleep in his car until class started.

"I was so tired I just couldn't focus sometimes," he said. Sometimes he was too tired to get behind the wheel in class.

"You've got to have determination. You can't give up. Determination pays off," he said of the experience. Covington is now driving for USA Truck.

In his 14 years of watching thousands of students come and go, Carter said, "If they're not successful, we're not successful," which is why the school generally does not charge extra if it takes students longer to complete the course.

SundayMonday Business on 06/25/2017

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