The benefit of using your CDL equivalent military license and a letter from your commander to obtain a skills test (driving test) waiver for your CDL provides an excellent opportunity to start a new career in the professional trucking industry. What if you don’t have a military equivalent CDL license? You still qualify for a wide variety of programs allowing you to also begin a professional trucking career in as little as 2 months. Some carriers have been approved to offer GI Bill benefits such as Crete Carrier Corp. So if you are a veteran and looking for a new career, trucking is an excellent industry to consider.
While I’m no fan of all the burdensome high cost regulations that are coming from the FMCSA these days, I do applaud them for creating the standards for all states to grant the skills test (driving test) waiver for military members and veterans. Moreover I appreciate all the states for accepting and creating this program for qualified military veterans returning to their civilian lives.
While obtaining your CDL is not as easy as it used to be, the process is fairly simple. First obtain the pre-formatted letter from your commander and store it in a safe place with your military license. A blank copy can be obtained from the FMCSA website. Next is a DOT physical from a Certified Medical Examiner (MEs) listed on FMCSA’s National Registry. You can search for a Certified Medical Examiner at the FMCSA’s website. After you receive your physical and you know you’re ready for the written test it’s time to go to your closest drivers license office that offers CDL exams. It should be noted that some states do not offer the CDL exams at all their locations. Then present your military license, Commanders letter and DOT physical results to the drivers license office and take your written exam.
If being a professional truck driver is something you are considering don’t miss the opportunity to use your military license to get a CDL. If you would like to read more on the specific details (and tons of extra stuff that won’t effect you) check out the full details at the FMCSA Military Skills Test Waiver page.