Fayetteville Tech on road to delivering more truckers

The U.S. needs thousands of commercial truck drivers to meet the growing demand from Amazon, Walmart and other companies, so students at Fayetteville Technical Community College are climbing into big rigs for training to help fill that gap.

According to the American Trucking Association, the shortage of commercial drivers is more than 50,000 and could soon be five to 10 times that number.

"Everything that you have, regardless if it's food, a pencil or whatever, at one time or another has to be moved by truck," said Eric Smith, an instructor in Fayetteville Tech's new 10-week CDL course.

Five people graduated from the course, which costs $500, two weeks ago and already have jobs that pay about $40,000 a year, Smith said. Eight more students are in the course now.

"All of my students so far have had employment before they graduated," he said. "This is their second week [for the new students], and two of them are already employed."

Trucking is a second career for Martin Nielson, who spent 32 years in the Navy, including time flying big airplanes.

"I like going out and seeing the country, I like big equipment, and I'm not saying this is going to be easy, but it's going to be a satisfying transition," Nielson said.

Spc. Anthony McKnight is getting out of the Army and said he's getting ready to climb into the cab of a big rig.

"I just heard it's a really good, profitable field, and my grandfather did it for a couple of years," McKnight said. "He seemed to make pretty good money."

Tina Myers also comes from a trucking family, and she said driving tractor-trailers is in her blood.

"My brother currently operates for a local truck driving company, has a child. My mother's first husband did it," Myers said.

Fayetteville Tech can train only eight students at a time, but the school plans to double that by purchasing two more 18-wheelers. Other North Carolina community colleges, such as Sampson Community College, also offer commercial driving courses.

Still, Smith said the life of a truck driver means days away from home and a lack of respect from motorists on the road.

"This business is not for everybody, but I always tell the students, 'If you sacrifice the first six months to a year, that opens up the door to a lot of local positions,'" he said. "But you have to pay your dues and get that year's experience under your belt."