Trump Announces ‘Freedom Haulers’ Boosting Trucking Jobs for Veterans

At some point, everything in the US ends up moving via truck. The American Trucking Association’s economic planning resource, the US Freight Transportation Forecast, predicts that the “Total truck tonnage will rise from an estimated 11.27 billion tons in 2024 to 13.99 billion tons in 2035.” What that means in the trucking industry revenues is equally impressive. Market growth for the trucking industry will go from an “estimated $906 billion to $1.46 trillion, accounting for 76.8% of the freight market by the end of the forecast period.” So how will we accommodate all that traffic? Freedom Haulers is the answer.

Freedom Haulers Meet the Demand

This increase in demand will require a significant increase in qualified and skilled truckers to fill the cabs of eighteen-wheelers and shorter-haul trucks. According to Trucky, a trucking industry information source, demand “currently puts the US driver shortfall at approximately 82,000 in 2026, up from 78,000 just two years ago. Industry projections push that figure past 160,000 by 2031.” President Donald Trump has identified America’s military veterans as a ready and willing pool of manpower to meet the challenge.

On July 30, President Trump announced an initiative to tap into military veterans’ talent and “formally kicked off an administration initiative designed to fast-track military veterans into trucking jobs while removing illegal immigrant drivers from America’s roadways, arguing the effort will improve highway safety and create new employment opportunities for former service members,” Fox News reported. The new program is aptly called the Freedom Haulers Initiative. In a ceremony in the White House Oval Office, President Trump announced:

“[We’re] going to get illegal aliens off the roads today. We are also taking action to replace these unqualified migrant truck drivers with highly qualified American veterans. Under our brand-new ‘Freedom Haulers’ we call it Freedom Haulers initiative, any American who has driven a heavy truck for the military will automatically be eligible for a commercial driver’s license (CDL)…Any veteran with heavy vehicle experience from the military will now be able to skip redundant test to obtain a commercial driver’s license.”

The problem President Trump was alluding to comes from the many deadly accidents involving illegal aliens menacing our national highways. Among those accidents typical of the deaths caused by non-English-speaking illegal immigrants was Harjinder Singh, who made an illegal U-turn on the Florida Turnpike, resulting in the deaths of three innocent motorists. Singh was not fluent in English, yet he received a California non-domiciled commercial driver’s license. According to Fox News, similar stories have happened in Pennsylvania (1 killed), California (2 killed), Indiana (1 critically injured, 4 killed), Washington State (3 injured), and Oregon (2 killed). During Trump’s Oval Office ceremony, he stated: “Last year alone, illegal aliens with commercial driver’s licenses caused at least 30 deaths and many, many very seriously injured.” The Trump administration is determined to get these dangerous illegals off the road. Reporting reveals that the Trump Transportation Department and Homeland Security have removed more than 24,000 non-English-speaking holders of CDLs and have coordinated with states to cancel more than 28,000 CDLs flagged as unlawfully issued to illegals.

Veteran Truck Drivers Prove Their Worth

Veterans who have become truck drivers have already proven their worth. According to the Department of Transportation webpage, Freedom Haulers: “The numbers don’t lie: Veterans make safer drivers. Veteran truckers account for 42% fewer accidents while covering 98% more miles driven than their counterparts.” According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), several states – including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, and Wyoming – have stepped up to allow qualified veterans to bypass both the written and driving exams to expedite obtaining their CDL. The FMCSA program is called the Even Exchange Program. FMCSA reports that 40,000 veterans have used the military skills waiver to gain employment with trucking firms. Among other initiatives that will help veterans prepare for a career in trucking is the Department of War initiative Skill Bridge, which allows service members to use their last 180 days of active duty to enter truck driver training and start work immediately upon discharge from the service.

Freedom Haulers will be a boon to the trucking industry. It will solve three problems. It will provide qualified veterans with a ready-made occupation. It will help to solve the deficit in truck drivers in the near future, and it will provide replacement truck drivers for those illegal aliens unlawfully driving and endangering our highways.

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The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliate.