Hired out of high school, paid from your first day of basic training, and taught a trade at no cost to you.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
The median pay is about $71,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $54,000 at the lower end to about $93,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
Up to 2 years, on the usual route, and you are paid while you train from the first day.
Nothing on the usual route: there is no tuition, exam or kit you have to pay for. Living costs are not counted.
No. There is no licence to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Good demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$71,000
Lower end
$54,000
Upper end
$93,000
Job Bank prices the combat engineer trade at a median of $34.35 an hour, about $71,000 a year full time. Military pay is a monthly salary set by rank and years served, not an hourly wage, and the rates are published by the Government of Canada. Technical trades such as aircraft and marine technicians sit on higher scales.
$4,337 a month
A new private in the Regular Force from April 1, 2025, about $52,000 a year
You are on salary from your first day in uniform, rising to $4,987 and then $5,994 a month with each yearly pay step. Recruits are housed and fed during basic training, so most of that pay is money you keep.
$6,858 to $7,337 a month
A corporal on the standard scale, about $82,000 to $88,000 a year
Technical trades sit on higher specialist scales. Sea pay, aircrew allowance, field allowance and tax-free allowances on deployment are paid on top of the base rate.
Roughly, all in
Nothing
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
There is no tuition, no fees and no kit to buy: trade training, uniforms, housing on base during training, and the medical, fitness and security screening are all covered, and you are paid a salary from the first day. Both ends are zero because there is no cheaper or more expensive way in. The real price is not money, it is an initial engagement of several years and very little say in where you live.
There is close to no financial cost. The cost is an initial engagement of several years and very little say in where you live.
Pension
A strong defined-benefit plan. Long service means retiring young with an income.
Full medical and dental
The military runs its own health services for serving members.
Subsidised housing on base
Below market rent on most bases, and paid moves when you are posted.
Trade certification
Several military trades line up with civilian Red Seal trades, so your training counts outside.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
No degree, no tuition. You are hired first and trained after.
High school
Grade 10 to 12
Grade 10 (Secondary IV in Quebec) is the minimum to join as a non-commissioned member. Technical trades want math and science.
Apply and get screened
Months
Application, background check, an aptitude and personality assessment, a medical and an interview. Applications are processed by priority, so some wait until a spot in their trade opens.
Basic training
9 weeks
The 9 week Basic Military Qualification at the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec. Drill, weapons handling, fitness, field exercises.
Trade training
2 months to 2 years
Anywhere from a few weeks to two years depending on the trade. A cook is trained fast. An aviation systems technician is not.
First posting
Ongoing
You join a unit and keep training. Promotion to corporal comes with time served and courses passed.
Math and physics
Required for the technical, electronic and aviation trades.
Shop and technology classes
Vehicle, weapons and marine technician trades are hands-on work.
Physical education
There is a fitness test you keep taking for your entire career.
French
The force is officially bilingual and bilingual members get more options.
Joining is an enrolment, not ordinary employment. You agree to an initial period of service, you are subject to military law, and you can be posted anywhere in Canada or deployed overseas. You cannot quit with two weeks notice. Ask recruiting for the exact length of the initial engagement for your trade, and what the release rules are, before you sign anything.
Regular Force
Full time. You move where you are posted and you deploy.
Reserve Force
Part time, usually one evening a week plus some weekends, often while you study. Same basic training, shorter.
Co-op and summer programs
Some reserve units recruit directly out of high school for summer employment.
The cadet program
Costs nothing, starts at 12, and is not enrolment. It is the cheapest way to find out if this life suits you.
Joining is federal, so the steps match the rest of Canada. Two things differ: the Forces count Quebec school years in their own way, and basic training is already in Quebec.
Finish Secondary V
Age 16 or 17
The Forces' minimum is 24 credits of Secondary IV, but most trades want a finished Secondary V, with math and science for technical trades. You can apply at 16 and join from 17.
Optional: paid schooling
0 to 3 years
The Forces' paid education plan, NCMSTEP (Non-Commissioned Member Subsidized Training and Education Plan), covers tuition and books for approved programs linked to a military trade. You owe 2 months of service per month paid.
Apply and get screened
6 to 12 months
Online or at a recruiting centre. Aptitude test, interview, medical and security screening, the same as in every other province.
Basic training in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu
About 3 months
Basic Military Qualification at the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School, where nearly every Regular Force recruit in Canada trains.
Trade training and first posting
2 months to 2 years
Your trade school and your posting can be anywhere in Canada, not only in Quebec.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Aviation and avionics systems technician
Highly technical, long training, and the civilian aviation industry hires hard.
Marine and vehicle technician
Lines up closely with civilian Red Seal trades.
Medical technician
A direct bridge into paramedic and health care work afterwards.
Combat engineer
Construction, demolition and bridging. Heavy equipment tickets come with it.
Real fitness
Running, rucking, push-ups. Turning up unfit makes basic training miserable.
A driver's licence
Useful for almost every trade.
Clean record and clean finances
Security screening looks at both.
Team sports or cadets
Recruiters look for people who work inside a group.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
In garrison: physical training early, then work in your trade, maintenance, inspections and courses, usually finishing mid afternoon. On exercise or deployment: field conditions, long days, little privacy, and your whole world is your section. At sea it is watches around the clock for months. The routine swings between very predictable and not predictable at all.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
The Canadian Armed Forces needs cooks, dentists, musicians, firefighters, welders, police and image technicians as well as infantry. Most of them are the same job you would do outside.
On April 1, 2025 the Regular Force raised the starting pay of a new private by 20%, from $3,614 to $4,337 a month.
The minimum age to join is 17, and 16 year olds can apply. Anyone under 18 on enrolment day needs a parent's or guardian's consent.
You do not have to be a citizen. Permanent residents can apply too, with proof of three years of physical presence in Canada.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Military and security first, then the rest of the field. See every career in law and public safety.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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