Having spent the last couple of months in the US working at a major airport, the conclusions that I can give you are:
The pay is crap, most guys I have been working with have to do 2 jobs.
They can be expected to work 80hrs a week.
You can't convert your 66 into an A&P just as you can't convert an A&P into a 66 licence.
Engineers in euroland are now called Technicians, whereas they have always been called mechanics in the US.