I found this forum a little by accident, let me give you some of the back story.
I am an Army mechaic and have been for getting on 8 years, not a long time I know, but it is lookin like I will be leaving the army on medical grounds this year as my hips have been worn out. I have been operated on and they are getting better but will never be strong enough to run around with weight on my back again.
I have lost the excitement I once had turning spanners and I am not sure that I could work in a civvie garage as I think the way of working is too different. My wife is a nurse and has been treading water in her career to follow mine as the moving around has meant that she hasnt been in one place long enough to move up the bands so we have talked about this and she is going to push for her career now while I work around her.
We will be moving back to sussex as that is where we are both from and she has a guaranteed job with her mum who manages a nursing home.
I am looking at driving hgv’s, I have all the licenses including a hiab license and I have always wanted to do it, might be a boys toys thing that used to be satisfied with tanks!
In the local area we are moving back to one of the jobs that seems to be available is working for a builders merchant doing deliveries. Does anyone have any experience of that? I want to avoid tramping but wouldn’t always say no to nights away.
Thank you if you have lasted this long and for any replies!
Hi mate I’m RAF and leaving in the next couple of months. My advice would be sign up with an agency like I did and get a feel for it during your weekends. You just have to fill in a form from your HR and get approval from your boss to do that. This will also build experience which is always good for a cv. The haulage industry loves military guys as your left on your own a lot so you need some discipline and don’t mind being messed about which will happen. I’ve done a few days here and there and its a decent job. The only thing id say is don’t rely on military driving experience to count in haulage as they often don’t consider it the same. If you do agency make sure you get your weekly rest periods in. Any problems just ask.
I found this forum a little by accident, let me give you some of the back story.
I am an Army mechaic and have been for getting on 8 years, not a long time I know, but it is lookin like I will be leaving the army on medical grounds this year as my hips have been worn out. I have been operated on and they are getting better but will never be strong enough to run around with weight on my back again.
I have lost the excitement I once had turning spanners and I am not sure that I could work in a civvie garage as I think the way of working is too different. My wife is a nurse and has been treading water in her career to follow mine as the moving around has meant that she hasnt been in one place long enough to move up the bands so we have talked about this and she is going to push for her career now while I work around her.
We will be moving back to sussex as that is where we are both from and she has a guaranteed job with her mum who manages a nursing home.
I am looking at driving hgv’s, I have all the licenses including a hiab license and I have always wanted to do it, might be a boys toys thing that used to be satisfied with tanks!
In the local area we are moving back to one of the jobs that seems to be available is working for a builders merchant doing deliveries. Does anyone have any experience of that? I want to avoid tramping but wouldn’t always say no to nights away.
Thank you if you have lasted this long and for any replies!
Adam
I’m ex army (rifles) been a Civvie now 14 months I did 12 years and left via voluntary redundancy so my choice, I’ve driven for a few firms, I just started working for a builders merchant on Monday if you want to be home every night then I would say it’s a good choice it can be a bit of graft, since you have to fit into tight building sites and find residential addresses so your seeing different area most days, I do a 9 hour day 0730 - 1630 and believe me you will be finished at that time
I worked for a merchant years ago, yes it’s hard, but you get regular customers, good banter, I picked up enough knowledge to fit my own bathrooms and you usually get products at cost, ideal if you need to do up the hoose!
Thats brilliant thanks very much for your messages guys.
One of the reasons I was looking at builders merchants was so I could be home at night so my wife could concentrate on her career after 8 years of marking time rather than working herself up