Fort Gordon and Fort Stewart SFL-TAP leadership and FASTPORT created a single-employer hiring fair to take place on base for transitioning service members and the local Veteran community. While the main focus on the Employer Day was to connect job seekers with real economic opportunities upon exiting service, FASTPORT also provided significant education on the trucking industry itself for attending Soldiers.

FASTPORT hosts the Hiring Our Heroes Trucking Track that connects Soldiers with careers, training opportunities, and expert mentors to help them make an easy transition into the trucking industry and represents employers who are ready to hire over 500 Soldiers into entry level jobs with excellent upward mobility opportunities and frontline supervisor jobs. Entry-level jobs like commercial driving offer incredible potential for upward mobility. For example, most trucking company owners learned the business by driving a truck.

The transportation industry is the 2nd largest industry in the nation, with over 300,000 positions open today in nearly every U.S. city. These jobs include commercial driving, mechanic, warehouse, office (human resources, sales, etc.), and management careers.

The trucking industry has a very high regard for military experience, regardless of a Veteran’s military occupation. The industry has committed to hire 150,000 Veterans in the coming 4 years. Veterans perform especially well in professional truck driving roles. This is evidenced by the fact that 40% of America’s owner operators (trucking’s entrepreneurs) have military experience, and many trucking employers report having over 25% of their professional truck drivers are Veterans. Professional truck drivers are responsible for the safety and security of America’s highways and roadways.                                                        

This hiring fair is also a great way for transitioning service members to learn about “America’s Top Rookie Military Veteran Driver” award program. In this program, Kenworth has agreed to provide a T680 truck to a deserving Veteran who enters the industry via the Trucking Track in order to jumpstart his or her career.

“The trucking industry offers an incredible variety of career paths, and Soldiers have the experience necessary to succeed in these careers because they already have experience with the largest, most complex supply chain and logistic company in the country—our military,” said Brad Bentley, FASTPORT President. “We are honored to help Veterans and transitioning service men and women, regardless of their MOS, access civilian jobs after they transition from service.”