Schneider Inc. officially announced its tenth Ride of Pride truck this week; a series of highway tractors designed by Freightliner Trucks since 2002 as a rolling tribute to members of the U.S. military, past and present.
“Schneider has long been a valued Freightliner customer, and we are so pleased to again partner with them for the 2016 Ride of Pride program,” noted Steve Mignardi, director of national accounts for Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) – Freightliner’s parent company – in a statement.
“We know that Schneider places great importance on the contributions of our military veterans, and this truck is a testament to that commitment,” he said.
Freightliner presented Schneider with the 2016 Ride of Pride tractor on May 27 this year – the eve of Memorial Day weekend – to make its public debut at Rolling Thunder, a motorcycle rally held annually in Washington, D.C., to honor U.S. veterans, prisoners of war (POW) and those still missing in action (MIA).
The 2016 Ride of Pride truck’s exterior graphics display black and white imagery of a beach invasion on D-Day, a helicopter landing in Vietnam and a patrol in the mountains of Afghanistan, among other military-themed images.
Schneider driver Jon Ritscher of Crown City, Ohio, will pilot the 2016 Ride of Pride truck. Selected from a pool of applicants, Ritscher – a driver with Schneider since July 2013 – spent eight years in the U.S. Army as a petroleum supply specialist, including two tours of Iraq spent in convoy duty, and used his G.I. Bill to obtain his commercial driver’s license.
The motor carrier noted that its 2016 Ride of Pride truck will spend its first 12 months traveling the U.S. to various military-themed events.
After that, it will enter regular freight hauling service, just like all of Schneider’s previous Ride of Pride tractors, the company said.