National Heavy Equipment Operators School

Brad attended our training facility back in February of 2003. He graduated on the 28th and immediately was hired by Parmenter Construction. He changed jobs soon after to join on with Belcorp out of Jacksonville Florida. The piece of equipment he enjoys operating the most is the Kawasaki 65 T M front-end loader. He is pictured here with this heavy-duty loader. He also operates the Caterpillar front-end loader with a rake attachment.

Headquarters in Jacksonville, FL, Belcorp is strategically located to provide service to anywhere in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. Belcorp prides itself on being a company that specializes in construction debris; land clearing or disaster clean-up debris, and removal experts. To do this they need some dedicated equipment as well as dedicated and trained operators.

Brad is a highly trained operator. While in school with us he trained extensively on a myriad of equipment, his favorite of course, the front-end loader. We asked Brad to share with us what the most difficult part of training was for him. He shared a rather unique perspective. “Running over a stop sign at 2:30 in the afternoon, being in class by 3:00 and having everyone knowing I hit the sign.” Brad only had to do that once! We also asked him why he chose our school over other possible options. He explained that we were $2,000 less than a school in Tampa.

Brad is an alumnus of sorts. He successfully completed our truck drivers school 16 years ago. He has been driving a truck for a water vending company. Although he enjoyed this work, he told us: “I still have about 20 years of working life left in me, so I figured I‘d do something I always wanted to do!” “What I love most about my job now is feeling and controlling the power of these machines.

When Brad is not it work, he enjoys working around the house, canoeing, or just picking up the guitar. He is married to Debbie who works with computers at the Harris Corporation. Their daughter Jessica is in school learning to make movies, and their oldest son Brad is “Fred Sanford.” Brad Sr.’s youngest son is Bart and he “Keeps crashing my d**n car.” Maybe he should have a bulldozer.

Mr. Willard’s long-term goal is to operate as many pieces of equipment as humanly possible. He wants to gain the knowledge and skills over the next ten years to start his own business. We are grateful that Brad chose National Training to help him on this quest. We are confident he can do it, and wish him good fortune and God’s speed.