Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/153582
THE BUSINESS Text Lina Skafvenstedt Photo Sören Håkanlind SELFMADE MAN Rick Hernandez appeared to be out for the count. Twelve years later he is running a highly successful trucking company in Texas with his wife, Laura, and son, Josh. L aura Hernandez directs a thoughtful look at her husband before she says: "I don't know if you remember this, Rick, but I remember so clearly the way you came in through the door, sat on the sofa with your head in your hands, totally devastated, and said that you never wanted to find yourself in the same situation again." The telephone call on that fateful day, Sept. 11, 2001, came from Rick's boss at the Pascal Truck Lines transport company. He was calling to say that Rick's position as a salesman no longer 32 existed and that he would have to leave the company. At the same time, many hundreds of miles away, two aircraft flew into the World Trade Center in New York. "Not only did I lose my job that day, but my country was also under attack. I was in a state of shock. I felt lost and totally disillusioned," says Rick, who has also served in the United States Army. Since leaving the military in 1981, Rick had been working as a driver and salesman for different transport companies. For a period, he even leased a truck and took different delivery DRIVER 'S DIGEST #2/2013 VTM_2_13_US_en.indb 34 DDQ213PG010-19_30-31_Common Pages.indd 32 2013-08-13 11:04 8/13/13 8:56 AM VTM_2_13