The road to a new career has fewer bumps for military veterans who want to become truckers when they leave the service. A new law allows states to waive residency requirements when issuing commercial trucking licenses to those who've been in the military.
Active-duty and reserve military, and members of the National Guard and Coast Guard can all take advantage of the new law, which went into effect in October.
The American Forces Press Service gave an example of how the law will work:
[S]uppose a service member is stationed in Texas but plans to leave the military and move to South Carolina. That person -- if he or she has the required driving experience -- can take the written commercial driver’s license test in Texas while still on active duty, receive a license, and then transfer the license to South Carolina later on.
The Truckload Carriers Association told USA Today that there are roughly 200,000 long-haul trucking jobs that need to be filled. The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects that number to grow to 300,000 unfilled trucking jobs by 2020.
