MAJOR DECISION!!!!!

I myself have been in this dilema Although becoming a cop is not on my list. The local police force has lost alot of cops this year and the last 3 years. So I am not even trying to get involved in that.

So when the last 2 jobs I had locally went belly up due to the economy I decided to take a long look at career's and hopefully made a good choice about going over the road. As for making money and not spending it hmm thats what gf's are for lol

As long as my truck gets done and my house gets paid for and I have money when I need it then it will be fine. She makes 75k a year and with my money I should be way better off. Plus you dont have to do it very long most trucking companies that also supply school you usually only have to drive a year. I figure in a years time I can re-evaluate things and then I would maybe get a local job there are plenty here. I mean a CDL class A you can drive anything Fed ex,UPS,ltl companies,garbage trucks,busses,cement trucks, dump trucks all pay well..and your home everynight..or if you like the big rigs regional runs are avail. also. I am not saying it is any safer then being a cop but I know I wont lose any friends over my decision.

Justin,
This should not be a poll in my opinion. it's a decision you have to make alone and leave everyones opinions out of it. If you can be won over by someones or many people's opinions to make a decision to become a COP you can be won over to regret it. Or vise versa. I would suggest sitting down and taking the time to count the cost, these kinds of jobs are not to be taken lightly. And as far as the previous post were it was mentioned:

"I am not saying it is any safer then being a cop but I know I wont lose any friends over my decision."

If you have to worry about your friends looking at you different or worrying about losing them over your decision. I suggest you start to getting rid of those so called friends wether you make the decision to become a cop or not.

if you're concerned about what your friends will think,then they aren't real friends.

My brother in law used to be anti law enforcement and used to smoke alot too!

but he decided one day to become a cop, he lost alot of "friends" but soon to realize they were not really his friends.

He just graduated last week.

to sum it all up, if that is what you want to do, then DO IT!

hell, we can all use a mini truckin friendly cop! lol

wow,so I called a driver training school this afternoon for my truck licence. 75 hours and $3000. Now I have to figure out where the hell to get that kind of money from.

I can tell ya it definetly won't be from my dead end $11/hr job.

justin, glad to hear your lookin for a new job bro! youve been in some real shitters, as i'm sure all of us have on our hunt for a CAREER, not a job. I recently became really lucky, i graduated from college with a mechanical designer degree. I went to some interviews and ended up at a great job, with great benefits and pay doing CNC machining which isent what i really went to school to do, but was capable. Like they said, your friends wont let you if you become a cop, because if they think that they were never friends to begin with. I'm not trying to preach anything, but i could never become a cop due to the hours they put in, the shit they have to deal with emotionally, and all the bullshit paperwork that comes along with becoming a cop. I have alot of friends who drive dumptrucks and make good money also. They love what they do, and they make good money. But that also takes time and effort to become a good driver. Around here, if you have a techincal degree, you can get a good job with great benefits. Although you may have to worry about loosing your job due to our crappy economy. At the end of the day you just have to figure out what you could due everyday to keep yourself happy, and get a decent amount of money. Hope it works out for you bro! And if you do become a cop, imma drive down there in my BMW and were gonna play abit of cat and mouse!!

yeh im still pondring my options and lookin in to other public service work as well. is there any fire fighters out there or know a good bit about the career?





-justin

Good advice from everyone J....here is my take on the friends issue....do they pay your bills...? Till then they shouldn't have a damn word to say about what you do to take care of # 1...and hey if you loose some over whatever profession you choose to get into, then like several others have said...they weren't worth callin a friend anyway...

CDL's aren't cheap for the school, but you don't necessairly need a school, you can get
a CDL book just like you can to study for a regular DL, then go down to the local
DOT office & take the test, only issue here is you won't have any practical exp in a truck...
also the other down side is if you do take the class or don't & still get the CDL, there isn't a guarantee that you'll get a job, most companies want X amount of experience, usually a year or more of w/e type of rig your driving, be it a dump truck, concrete truck, OTR, or delivery...My brother did this a year ago, the only company to hire & train was SWIFT which has a bad rep with other truckers, he was on the road for 3 weeks, never got paid, and had to ride with someone he didn't know, & that driver most of the time slept while my brother drove for his shift and the guy's he was riding with, then when it came time to fill out the log books, he wanted my bro to lie about the amount of time behind the wheel....all in all, he quit, and is now working for the county water department as an operator, and just got done taking classes to get certified as a water inspector...

Being a police ossifer, fireman bill, or paraplegimedic or any other pubic service
position can be very rewarding, yet also be very upsetting and or dangerous too,
Going into one of these type jobs, you have to be able to deal with stress, and
the potential to deal with stuff that by normal human nature would turn the best
people away....do a little self assesment and if you have been able to deal with
stuff in you own personal life that may have been upsetting & or dangerous, then
one of these type positions would be a place to start.

The best advice I can give is to try to make yourself as diverse & appealing as you can to your potential employers, doing so will keep you from being "tied down" in any one type of profession, so even if the economy poops the bed, and w/e industry your working in goes belly up, you can go into another field w/o much issue...not to harp about education, cause I'm not a college grad (even though I pissed away a full scholarship back in the day over some puntang) it doesn't hurt to have that paper man, it can open doors that won't be available to you if you did have a degree....

Good luck in w/e you decide to do!

i was in a volunteer fire dept, for two years, so i know a pretty decent amount about it. what are looking to know?

any and all information about the career. i stopped by the local fd today on the way home from work and talked to a couple of them for about an hour.







-justin