There have been so many natural disasters happening these days its almost impossible to keep up.  Its crazy the things that have happened in the last few years.  Earth quake on the east coast a hurricane in New York.  Amazingly massive tornadoes and floods destroyed lives and property in the mid-west and south.  It is like an adventure just watching the news to see what will happen next.

Regardless of what happens or where, there are always people ready to respond and truckers are among the first to arrive.  Truck drivers are the people who deliver the life saving supplies organizations like the red cross rely on.  When it hits the fan and all hope seems in jeopardy you can’t imagine how people react to a new shipment of goods arriving.  Truckers play a key role in helping people recover from tragedy and get back to a normal life after disaster.

I trucker buddy of mine had a chance to go over to New Orleans and help with the clean up after Katrina destroyed the entire area.  The truckers pulled loads day and night to open up road ways and help encourage the water to drain away.  The massive amounts of debri that remained had to be cleared so ordinary life could resume.  This was a big job needed to help the people in the area and was a boom to dump truck drivers.  As a matter of fact there are truckers are still there now helping with the ongoing redevelopment efforts on the gulf coast.

Its what you make it out to be.  When I was going through my CDL test I noticed a guy who went before me he worked for a disaster recovery company.  All they did was respond to natural disasters and set up communication centers and medical stations made out of trucks.  It is a really cool idea that you don’t think about everyday but someone has to do it.  If you have ever been in a situation like this then you know the first thing that goes down is the cell phone service.  One of the features of the response vehicle was to reestablish cell phone service. The truck was equipted with all types of sophisticated communication equipment.  Also supported radio communication for first responders.  So if this truck doesn’t show up then the people helping the people have no way to talk to each other.

I actually had  a chance to deliver some loads of lumber to the port that were headed to Haiti after the earthquake there.  This made me feel good because I knew that somehow I played a role in helping people.  The load that I delivered was all building materials that was desperately needed for basic recovery efforts underway.

Have you ever seen the truckers who move loads of water to help aid firefighters?  You can make a real difference as a commercial driver.  Its not all about delivering another load of corn flakes to the grocery store it can be much bigger than that.  This is another opportunity that you can grab if you are interested.  There are plenty of niches that perform well in trucking.  You can stay in one or move around seasonally like many truckers recommend.  The sky is the limit use your imagination as a map and let you conscious be your guide.