Another Great Company Stepping Up to Help Veterans

Another trucking company is offering to help veterans get their CDL and obtain trucking jobs.  Missouri based Route 66 CDL and Apprentice LLC., has announced a a truck driver training program  that helps veterans and supplies drivers for the industry.

The training director, Gary Martin, at Route 66 told KOLZ that even veterans with a four-year degree and advanced skills, who are in their prime, are still having a hard time finding jobs.

“It’s scary coming out of the military,” says Lonnie Roberts, an Air Force veteran. “I mean, 20 years you’re covered, got a job — a guaranteed job. You’ve got a family, then coming out to the outside you don’t know anybody. You don’t have that family network to rely on.”

“It was real difficult because I had to adjust being around and doing everyday things that normal people are doing, going from being in the military where you have a set job and you have certain times you have to do certain things,” says Willie Shubert, a military veteran.

“You know the military was the only thing I knew for 8 years, so after that it’s like, ‘Okay, now what?'” Army veteran Richard Taticek told KOLZ.

CEO of Route 66, Billy Martin, says he decided a school would be a great way to help veterans, as well as produce drivers for the industry.

“There are significant unemployment rates for these veterans, these guys and women need jobs when they come home, also they’re some of the very best folks we can hire,” Martin told KOLZ. He says the requirements of a job in the trucking industry are similar to what they’ve dealt with in the military. “They’ve been used to being away from home. They’re very disciplined. They’re structured. They really fit our operation.”

Martin says employers should be eager to hire veterans, because they make great employees.

“They have a purpose in life. They have a direction. They’re used to taking orders. They’re used to thinking on their feet. They’re used to making decisions, which makes them an ideal candidate for what we do.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

— The unemployment rate of veterans in 2011 (8.3 percent) was not statistically different from the rate in 2010 (8.7 percent).

— Young male veterans (those ages 18 to 24) who served during Gulf War era II had an unemployment rate of 29.1 percent in 2011, higher than that of young male nonveterans (17.6 percent). — Among all veterans, those with a service-connected disability had an unemployment rate of 8.5 percent in August 2011, about the same as the rate for veterans with no disability (7.9 percent). — One in three employed veterans with a service-connected disability worked in the public sector in August 2011, compared with about 1 in 5 veterans with no disability.

— In 2011, 21.6 million men and women in the civilian noninstitutional population ages 18 and over were veterans.

–In August 2011, approximately 38 percent of Gulf War-era II veterans reported that they had served in Iraq, Afghanistan, or both. (Some veterans did not report their location of service.) These veterans had an unemployment rate of 11.6 percent, not statistically different from Gulf War-era II veterans who served elsewhere (8.6 percent).

–Gulf War-era II veterans were about twice as likely to work in the public sector in 2011 as were nonveterans–27 percent and 14 percent, respectively. About 14 percent of employed veterans of the era worked for the federal government, compared with about 2 percent of employed nonveterans.

More information: http://www.rt66cdl.com