OPEN ROAD Q3

By Olivia McClure
s the American trucking industry continues to deal with a workforce
shortage, some employers are looking to hire military veterans as
drivers — an approach that could also help veterans, who often struggle to
find fulfilling work when they return home.
Nationwide, trucking companies are short about 38,000
drivers, the American Trucking Associations (ATA) reported
in 2014.
“In certain segments of the industry, we’re definitely
projecting huge truck driver shortages as truck drivers
begin to age out,” said P. Sean Garney, director of
safety policy for ATA.
Veterans are one potential source of new drivers. Additionally,
they have the ability to fill other roles in the
industry, Garney said. The ATA member companies
have committed to hiring 100,000 veterans by the end
of the year and is encouraging companies to consider
veterans for apprenticeships and other jobs.
The ATA is also supporting a number of regulatory
changes that would make it easier for veterans to
become truck drivers, such as extending the period of
time that the congressionally mandated skills test can
be waived for veterans from 90 days to a year, Garney
said. In the meantime, all states have been granted an
exemption allowing a longer timeframe.
“It allows military personnel whose military occupational
category is truck driver to opt out of the CDL skills test
when they try to obtain their civilian CDL,” Garney said.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMC-
SA) is working to allow both veterans and soldiers on active
duty to obtain a commercial drivers license outside
their state of domicile because military personnel are
often stationed far away from home.
ATA supports an effort to allow active reserve military
personnel younger than 21 to obtain a CDL that’s valid
in two states, though that is likely a “long way down the
road,” Garney said.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation has a
Trucking Track Mentoring Program, which helps veterans
find jobs in the trucking industry that suit their skill sets.
“In the past few years, the number of military personnel
selecting trucking as the industry to start their career has
increased, resulting in some companies building their
workforce to greater than 30% veterans,” according to
the Trucking Track website.
12 ❘ Open Road Q3 2016