What civilian equivalent roles exist for military job categories?

I'm considering a future in the military but also want to know how the skills and roles translate to civilian life. What are some common civilian equivalents for different military job categories? Want to keep my options open!

Absolutely, it's essential to understand the crossover between military roles and civilian jobs. The skills and experience you gain in the military are highly transferable to the civilian world.

1. Infantry: Roles in the infantry often foster teamwork, leadership, and crisis-management abilities. Civilian equivalents may include police officers, security contractors, or emergency disaster response teams.

2. Logistics: Military professionals working in supply chain, transportation, and procurement gain skills that are directly transferable to civilian roles in logistics, operations, and supply chain management within corporate entities.

3. Intelligence: Military intelligence roles are good precursors to jobs in any organization that requires data analysis and inference—like business analyst roles, cybersecurity, or law enforcement intelligence.

4. Healthcare: The military has a wide range of medical roles, such as combat medics or field surgeons. These roles translate directly to civilian jobs in healthcare, from emergency medical technicians (EMTs) to registered nurses, or even surgeons in hospitals.

5. Engineering: Military engineers can transition to myriad roles in the civilian sector, from civil engineers in cities and municipalities to project managers in construction firms.

6. Communications: Those who worked on communication systems in the military could find themselves in a host of IT roles in the civilian sector, e.g., network administration or telecommunications.

7. Aviation: Pilots or aircrew in the military could become commercial pilots, flight instructors, or aviation safety inspectors.

Overall, the translatable skills from the military often include leadership, adaptability, decision making under pressure, teamwork, and discipline. These qualities make veterans strong candidates for a variety of roles in the civilian world, and many companies actively seek out veterans for their unique experiences and expertise.