Women's Army Corps

A separate branch with its own command structure, even after women got full military status — cooks, clerks, switchboard operators, cryptographers, control tower operators, Link trainer instructors.

The Story

When the WAAC became the WAC in 1943, women could pick from 200+ specialties. But the recruit-school sorting hat was brutally honest: highest scorers became switchboard operators, the next tier mechanics, "the lowest scoring recruits" became bakers.