When Brandon Meredith retired from the U.S. Army, it marked the end of a 20-year journey that had taken him to the Middle East, Africa and the far East. For 13 of those 20 years, he served in the Special Operations Forces. During his time in the Army, he saw deployment to a combat zone, where he earned a medal for valor.
Long before he enlisted in the military, however, Meredith discovered a love of trucking. Since childhood, he’d dreamed of being a truck driver, like his father and grandfather before him. Meredith says he never lost sight of that target, despite his 20-year “detour” through the military.
After leaving the Army March 31, 2023, he immediately set his sights on earning a commercial driver’s license (CDL), enrolling in the driver training program at Fayetteville Technical Community College in North Carolina.
“I wanted something where I could just kind of decompress — for lack of a better term — and not be surrounded by a lot of people all at once,” he said. “(Choosing) trucking was kind of a no-brainer to me. I’m going to go out here and I’m going to do this job. I’m going to be 90% autonomous. I don’t have to be around a ton of people all day every day.”
After earning his CDL, Meredith landed a job as a driver for St. Louis-based Slay Transportation.
“I think I got really lucky with the position I got with Slay in the tanker field,” he said. “My research alone told me it’s not easy to get a fuel or a tanker job right off the bat as a rookie.”
Less than a year later, Meredith was honored as the winner of the Transition Trucking: Driving for Excellence award.
Each year, the award, presented through the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Hiring Our Heroes program, recognizes America’s top rookie military veteran driver who has made a successful transition from military service to driving for a commercial fleet. To be considered for the award, veterans must complete a rigorous nomination, selection committee and public voting process.
The winner receives a brand-new Kenworth T680 Signature Edition truck, among other prizes.
“Somewhere around the end of June, my boss called me into her office. I thought maybe I did something wrong, since that wasn’t a normal thing,” Meredith told The Trucker.
“She told me that my CDL school director nominated me for a national award. I’m like, ‘That’s awesome, that’s cool.’ Then I kind of changed the subject,” he said. “She was like, ‘Hold on. Do you know what the first prize is? It’s a brand-new Kenworth!’ I was like, ‘Let’s talk about that a little bit more.’ I had never even heard of the program — never even heard of that award.”
In September, Meredith discovered he’d made the final cut, becoming one of five finalists. In December, he was named the winner for 2023. He received the award — and the new Kenworth truck — during a ceremony held at the American Trucking Associations headquarters in Washington, D.C. His wife Dani and daughters Kylie, 15, and Kamryn, 12, were at his side.
He says he’s been floating on air ever since, and says he could not have asked for a better year.
“Veterans are a special breed of human beings. I’ve made some lifelong friends throughout this award,” he said. “I’m a third-generation truck driver now.”
Just 10 days before Meredith’s 19th birthday, he says, his father was killed on the job.
“While that was a hard time in my life, this profession is something I’ve always wanted to pursue,” he said. His stint in the Army helped prepare him for his future in trucking.
“I got behind the wheel of a lot of different vehicles in the military, a lot of them large — not so much comparable to a Class 8 tractor, but somewhat in comparison when it comes to a two-and-a-half ton LMTV (Light Medium Tactical Vehicle) and stuff like that,” he said.
Today, Meredith enjoys the variety he’s discovered through life behind the wheel.
“I see a little bit of everything. I’m not going to the same place every day. I’m a little bit more active with the hoses and connections and unloading and loading,” he said, adding that his job is definitely NOT like the movie “Groundhog Day,” in which the hapless hero finds himself trapped in a repetitive loop.
“(At Slay), we haul a lot of resin-type material, liquid resin for manufacturers of wood products — flooring, fiberglass, things of that nature,” he said. “Being a tanker, (the truck is) moving around and banging you around pretty good. Once I got the hang of (hauling a tanker), I fell in love with it. I wouldn’t take my choices back.”
Meredith’s new Kenworth, which boasts a 76-inch sleeper, a 455-horsepower Paccar MX-13 engine and a Paccar TX-12 automated transmission, wasn’t the only prize he brought home. He was also awarded a full-tuition scholarship to National University, which he plans to use to finish his degree. Because his tuition is now covered by the award, he says he will now transfer his GI Bill education benefits to his daughters.
In addition, he says, he hopes the publicity he receives because of the Transition Trucking: Driving for Excellence award will inspire other military personnel who are making the transition to civilian life, whether in trucking or in some other profession.
“(That process) confuses them quite a bit; they see advertisements or things about career transition, and they probably don’t really do their research,” he said. “They’re probably just following what somebody else has done, whether they go to IT school or something like that.”
Meredith wants others to realize that their military careers provide a solid foundation for a variety of civilian jobs.
“There are a lot of opportunities for veterans, a lot more than there used to be,” he said. “If you can think ahead and plan your departure from the military, your transition, there are a lot of opportunities out there for you that aren’t as publicized, and the options are growing every day as far as what you can do.
“I have a lot of friends that are getting ready to retire (from the military) and they’re always saying, ‘I don’t know what I want to do,’” he continued. “I tell them, ‘You know what my wife told me? You put in all this time in the military; now it’s time for you to do what you want to do.’
“There are a lot of opportunities out there. You’ve got a retirement check coming, and you’re already taking care of your family. So just do what you think you will enjoy doing — and you can’t go wrong.”
Meredith says he realizes his whirlwind of a first year in the private sector isn’t typical — but he’s enjoying the ride nonetheless.
“I joke with some of my friends about it. When I first started working — once I was trained and on my own — during my first three months alone I had two Driver of the Month awards,” he said with a laugh. “I’m like, ‘Hey guys, the civilian world’s really easy. You’ve just got to show up and do your job and they love you!’ Seriously, though, it’s been pretty wild.”
All joking aside, however, Meredith is determined to continue along the road to success.
Dwain Hebda is a freelance journalist, author, editor and storyteller in Little Rock, Arkansas. In addition to The Trucker, his work appears in more than 35 publications across multiple states each year. Hebda’s writing has been awarded by the Society of Professional Journalists and a Finalist in Best Of Arkansas rankings by AY Magazine. He is president of Ya!Mule Wordsmiths, which provides editorial services to publications and companies.
