Military Vet? Here’s 3 Skills That Translate Perfectly Into a Career in Trucking

Military veterans are accustomed to a life of discipline, yet when one of the 1.3 million vets retire, they often struggle to transition into a civilian job. However, vets have skills that help them fit perfectly into a career as a trucker. If you’re leaving the military soon or have already done so, you may want to consider a truck driving career.

3 Skills Military Veterans Possess That Translate into a Successful Trucking Career

Your commitment to the military and the skills you’ve learned along the way make you an invaluable asset to trucking fleets around the world. Trucking is an industry with immense demand, a shortage of drivers and the need for the skills that everyone exiting the military has learned when serving the country.

The trucking industry is known for hiring a lot of vets, due to three main skills you’re sure to have.

1. Discipline to Keep on Moving

Discipline is one of the key traits that military vets have that helps them reach the top of the trucking industry. In your training, you learned how important it is to remain on task and continue trying to better yourself.

This is a skill that transitions into the trucking industry very well.

You’ll find discipline crucial to:

Time schedules and ensuring loads arrive at their destination on time
Listening to dispatches and management to ensure you’re doing your duties
Navigating complex trucking issues

If you have aspirations of being an owner-operator, discipline may mean the difference between success or failure. Truckers often start their career driving for a larger fleet before looking into lease programs and operating their own rigs.

Veterans are a great choice for an owner-operator because the discipline they enter the field with empowers them to:

Understand the financial commitment ahead of them when operating their own rig and determining if it’s a cost-effective option for them.
Book loads faster and better understand the logistics behind scheduling.
Make smart financial decisions to keep their rig on the road without experiencing the same cash flow issues that owner-operators without discipline have.

Discipline is one of the most vital traits for truck drivers who want to be their own boss and drive their own rig. If you don’t have discipline, it can be nearly impossible to operate your own rig.

There’s a lot of money to be made as an owner-operator, but the logistics of being your own boss are often too difficult for drivers that lack the will to be their own boss.

2. Timeliness – a Backbone for a Long Career in Trucking

Military veterans have a major advantage when starting a truck driving career: timeliness. In the transportation industry, goods must move quickly and reach their destinations on time.

More than 20 billion tons of goods move through the U.S. transportation network each year. Timeliness is of the utmost importance to transport a high volume of goods and keep the transportation network running smoothly.

Veterans are quite familiar with the pressures of meeting deadlines and following schedules. As a result, they excel at time management and efficiency, which will serve them well during their trucking careers.

The trucking industry needs drivers with integrity and a strong work ethic – and that’s exactly what you bring to the table as a veteran.

Veterans are:

Quick to adapt when situations change, helping them stay on track to complete tasks on time.
Excellent at communication. If issues arise that will delay shipments, veterans will communicate the problem early on to ensure everyone is on the same page.
Self-sufficient. Veterans can work independently and plan their days to ensure that their shipments reach their destinations on time.

Deadlines are critical in the military. However, veterans are trained to manage their time effectively and can often excel at juggling multiple priorities.

Your time management and leadership skills will help you get your shipments to their destinations as quickly and safely as possible. Your timeliness will help you excel and progress in your career.

3. Grit to Help You Navigate Issues Along the Way

Men and women in service perform their jobs under incredibly stressful situations. They are responsible for meeting schedules, setting priorities, and accomplishing missions. Veterans are trained to handle these challenges and pressures constructively.

For this reason, veterans are often calm under pressure and can find solutions to challenges on their own. They excel at solving complex problems and seeing tasks through to completion.

In other words, veterans have grit – resilience and determination.

In the military, accomplishing missions requires determination to overcome obstacles, critical thinking skills and creativity. Those are invaluable skills to have as a trucker.

As a trucker, you will face a variety of challenges when out on the road. Being a self-starter and having the ability to overcome challenges independently will help you excel in this role.

Veterans Have What the Trucking Industry Needs.

As a veteran, you’ve obtained many skills during your military career that are valuable in the trucking industry. These are skills that will help you work efficiently and overcome challenges while out on the road. Your leadership, organization and communication skills will also serve you well in this role.

The trucking industry needs 80,000 dedicated drivers to fill their ranks during the current trucking shortage. Military veterans fit this mold perfectly, allowing them to enter their truck driving careers with the skills they need to succeed.