Vehicle Mechanic: Same job, different worlds
Keeps wheeled and tracked vehicles moving — and is one of the most in-demand civilian trades after service.
The US has FOIA, congressional oversight, and open pay scales — so US MOS data is comparable. Most other militaries here are less transparent than that, not more. Putting the same job side-by-side across countries surfaces what no single ministry of defence will tell you: that training length, housing, civilian conversion value, and career ceilings vary wildly for what is nominally the same role. Nothing structured like this exists in any single language. That's why this page is here.
UK Phase 1 is 14 weeks vs. US BCT at 10. Australia's Kapooka is 10 weeks. Canada's BMQ is 13. Germany's GA is 12. Same job, different ramp-up.
Every country runs a different housing lottery. UK SFA is famously underfunded. Canada's PMQ waitlist is 3,700+ families. Australia's DHA moves 15k personnel a year.
Some trades are worth more in the civilian market depending on which country you served in. UK CMT → NHS paramedic. Canadian 871 → provincial ACP. German Sanitätssoldat → Rettungssanitäter.
The promotion system in each country has unique chokepoints. UK AGAI 67. Canada's bilingual wall. Australia's separation rate crisis. Germany's dienstaltersgeprägte Beförderung.