From Marine to Fleet Owner: REL Celebrates Top Hand Trucking in Billings
What began with REL’s Military Appreciation Truck Giveaway came full circle in Billings, Montana, as the REL team joined Top Hand Trucking for a celebration of service, drivers, family and the trucking community.
REL recently traveled to Billings, Montana, to join Top Hand Trucking for a special Driver Appreciation celebration at the company’s headquarters. Top Hand CEO Nick Molina invited his drivers, employees, friends and family, along with members of the REL team, for a cookout filled with food, live music, trucks and plenty of camaraderie. The gathering also gave REL an opportunity to celebrate Top Hand as the winner of REL’s 2026 Military Appreciation Truck Giveaway, which provided the company with a day cab lease free for one year.
During the event, REL COO Tyler Tattum sat down with Molina to talk about the journey that brought him from more than 20 years of service in the United States Marine Corps to ownership of a trucking company. Molina retired as a Master Sergeant after a career that included work as a helicopter mechanic, deployments to Iraq, service as a small-arms weapons instructor and leadership in Marine Corps recruiting. His final assignment brought him to Montana, where he served as a station commander overseeing Marines and recruiting offices throughout the state.
Molina’s transition from the military into trucking began before he had even officially taken off the uniform. A fellow Marine suggested that Molina buy his trucking company, an idea that initially seemed financially impossible. Molina eventually brought together partners, including other military Vets, and began working through the financing and FedEx approval process while still on active duty. In a fitting overlap between two chapters of his life, Molina completed his FedEx interview on his final day of active-duty service in the Marine Corps.
That background made the moment Molina won REL’s Military Appreciation Truck Giveaway especially meaningful. Just before the giveaway event in Dallas, one of Top Hand’s older, high-mileage trucks suffered a catastrophic failure, while another was developing a potentially serious mechanical problem. Molina suddenly faced the possibility of having multiple trucks down at once. Then his name was announced as the giveaway winner. Molina described the truck as “a miracle that we needed for our company,” explaining that it helped change the momentum of the fleet and allowed Top Hand to begin moving from some of the oldest equipment in the operation toward newer trucks.
But during his conversation with Tattum, Molina repeatedly brought the discussion back to people rather than equipment. Asked what he has learned as a trucking business owner, Molina emphasized the importance of asking questions, putting ego aside and surrounding yourself with experienced people willing to share both their successes and their failures. He credited the FedEx linehaul community with helping him learn the business and encouraged other contractors to seek out people who have already faced the problems they are encountering. For a relatively new fleet owner, he said, those conversations can become an invaluable shortcut to lessons that otherwise might have to be learned the hard way.
Molina also offered a revealing definition of what business success means to him. His goal over the next five to ten years is not simply to build a successful company for himself, but to build one that works for his drivers as well. He spoke proudly about a driver recently purchasing his first home and others being able to buy vehicles and better provide for their families. Molina compared those moments to seeing Marines under his command earn promotions. Better equipment is part of that equation, too. Drivers who once operated million-mile trucks can now take pride in newer equipment, while Top Hand works to create a company where the success of the business is reflected in the lives of the people driving its trucks.
For Molina, there is another lesson in Top Hand’s giveaway story: sometimes leaders have to be willing to ask for help. He acknowledged that applying for the Military Appreciation Truck Giveaway and publicly explaining his company’s challenges pushed him outside his comfort zone. His advice to other veterans and fleet owners considering future REL giveaways is simple: submit the paperwork, make the video and tell your story honestly. Molina had actually been a runner-up the previous year before returning and winning in 2026. Today, the REL truck is being driven by one of Top Hand’s veterans and has become a working part of the company’s fleet.
The visit to Billings brought the story full circle. What started with an application and an emotional announcement in Dallas became a day spent among the drivers, families and friends who make Top Hand Trucking possible. For REL, the Military Appreciation Truck Giveaway is about more than putting another truck on the road. It is an opportunity to recognize military service, support trucking entrepreneurs and strengthen relationships with the people doing the work every day. REL thanks Nick Molina and the entire Top Hand Trucking family for their hospitality, congratulates them again on their one-year free day cab lease, and most importantly, thanks Nick for his more than two decades of service to our country and Top Hand’s drivers for everything they do to keep freight moving.
