Change in America’s trucking may not fully be tangible when the new Freedom Haulers initiative is up, running and thriving.
For more than 600,000 veterans in North Carolina from the nation’s more than 15.7 million, the difference could be up close and very tangible.
“I think we’re going to get veterans, and get them into trucks,” Lewie Pugh, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, told The Center Square. “I’m not sure we’ll notice a huge change. We hear about driver shortage when there’s not. What there is and always has been is a turnover problem.”
Freedom Haulers, as the initiative is known, is a collaborative effort involving states and their respective commercial driver’s licensures; and the federal departments for War, Labor, Transportation and Veterans Affairs.
“These are great-paying jobs,” said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
He estimated pay from $80,000 to $100,000 annually.
“I can’t think of anything else that says freedom more in our country than an open road truck and a veteran,” Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins said. “Veterans have said one thing: when they raised their right hand, they pledged what others would not do. They said, ‘I will go and do what others will not do."”
Collins said veterans are now being put first as well.
In the initiative announced last week, the Trump administration said it is “streamlining the licensing pathways and improving access to apprenticeship programs, and calling on our partners to bolster their veteran hiring numbers.”
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Military Skills Test Waiver, a pathway allowing 40,000 veterans to skip the CDL road test – has an expanded application window to two years after military service ends. Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland and Wyoming joined the Even Exchange Program, a pathway for veterans to bypass both written and driving exams.
The Freedom Haulers’ program says it is covering up to 100% of tuition for approved CDL programs. The estimates today are 25% of military veterans have become truckers earning annual wages of $70,000. The Trump administration expects compensation to grow an average of 7.42%.
“This is a big deal,” second-term Republican President Donald Trump said. “We believe that all 50 states and Washington, D.C., should join us in supporting these great veterans. I think they’re all going to be signing up.”
Pugh, the trucking industry vice president, said a big part of the trucking industry’s success is setting up potential truckers for success.
“So many people come into the industry not well equipped, not well trained, and they stay year or year and a half and go find something else,” Pugh told The Center Square. “With all these promises, I’m hoping they start addressing safe parks – there’s one for every 11 trucks – and focus on training. Had we raised the bar, they would have never got behind the wheel in the first place. They would have washed out.
“We need to value the time of truckers. He gives away 20 to 30 hours a week waiting to load or unload, never getting compensated. We need to address that fact. In 1938, in Fair Labor Standards Act, they made truck drivers exempt from overtime pay. We need to fix that problem, where employee drivers are getting paid when they’re behind the wheel.”
Pugh, a farmer in Holden, Mo., who drove a truck for more than a quarter century following his time in the Army and Army Reserves, said it evolves into a safety issue when truckers push to catch up.
“Everything in a trucker’s life is controlled by time, except for his pay,” he said. “You get stuck in one of these places four or five hours, so when you finally drive, it’s natural and human to push yourself.”
One thing Pugh is glad to see is use of federal resources and government resources for humans in the rigs – rather than a push for autonomous driving trucks.
“As far as a mass entrance of AVs and exit of drivers,” he said, referring to autonomous vehicles, “I don’t think that’s going to happen.
“If a truck is hacked by a foreign nation, it could be a weapon pretty quickly. Instead of autonomous vehicles, doesn’t it make more sense to put veterans in these trucks? Hats off to Sen. Moreno for legislation to where we can’t use Chinese parts, but right now, that’s what is in these trucks. It doesn’t seem smart to me. Lot of cybersecurity and national security that we’re not addressing with autonomous vehicles.”
Sens. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., introduced the Connected Vehicle Security Act of 2026. If it becomes law, it would prohibit Chinese-manufactured vehicles, software and connected hardware components from the American market.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Pugh said of the Freedom Haulers initiative. “The only thing you have to remember, civilian trucking is different than military. There’s much more substantial training. There’s more in depth and a lot longer. They’re going to get much better training.”
And after all, he says, “Military people are transits, get moved a lot. Which is what you do in trucking. I think we’ll get a lot. It’s going to help.”
North Carolina is home to an estimated 615,000 vets, roughly 90,000 active-duty military, and about 43,000 National Guard and reservists. Texas, Florida, California and Pennsylvania rank with North Carolina in the top five of states home to veterans. California, Texas and Virginia are the only states with more active-duty military.
North Carolina’s six major military bases include the U.S. Army’s Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base, both in the southeastern part of the state; Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in eastern North Carolina; and U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Camp Lejeune and MCAS New River along the coast, not more than an hour’s drive from the more inland MCAS Cherry Point in Havelock. There are also two U.S. Coast Guard bases along the northern coast at Elizabeth City; and the Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point on the southern coast in Brunswick County.
“With nearly 40% of our membership having served in the U.S. Armed Forces, OOIDA’s members bring a unique dedication to both national security and road safety,” said OOIDA President Todd Spencer in an email to The Center Square. “Military veterans have the skills to succeed in trucking and that’s what makes them the safest operators of the 80,000-pound commercial vehicles that traverse America’s roadways. OOIDA strongly applauds the Trump administration for launching the Freedom Haulers initiative to ensure the most well-trained, professional men and women are operating large trucks on our nation’s roadways and keeping our supply chain secure.”