Congress approves the bill to create the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps.
Oveta Culp Hobby is sworn in as the first director.
The first WAAC training schools open.
A Top Secret project called "Battery X" was established utilizing women to crew Antiaircraft Artillery in the Military District of Washington.
1943 - WAAC Renamed WAC
The 149th WAAC Post Headquarters Company becomes the first WAAC unit to serve overseas at Allied Forces HQ.
Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers introduces legislation to change the name of the WAAC to Women's Army Corps and drop the "auxiliary" affiliation.
WAAC is officially changed to the WAC.
WAC Special Troops are deployed overseas for duty in Italy.
Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) established.
1944 - 5,000 Women Serve in Pacific
More than 5,000 women serve in the Southwest Pacific region from 1944 - 1955.
Army nurses land at Normandy four days after D-Day.
1945 - 6888th to Europe, Hobby Resigns
The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, an all-black WAC unit, departs for Europe.
COL Hobby resigns and is replaced by COL Westray Battle Boyce.
Nurses captured at the fall of Corregidor in 1942 are released by the Japanese.
1946 - Legislation for WACs in the Regular Army
Lieutenant Colonel Mary Hallaren is appointed the WAC Deputy Director.
Army Chief of Staff General Dwight D. Eisenhower directs legislation to include WACs in the Regular Army and the Organized Reserve Corps.
WAC officers arrive in Japan for assignment to the 8000th WAC Battalion.
Congress provides re-employment rights for WAAC and WAC.
1947 - Hallaren Appointed to Director
Lieutenant Colonel Hallaren is appointed to Director of the WAC, replacing Boyce.
Women's Medical Specialist Corps established.
1948 - WACs Enlisted in Regular Army
WACs with prior service are enlisted in the Regular Army.
WAC Training Center is established at Camp Lee, VA.
The Women's Armed Services Integration Act of 1948 becomes Public Law 80-625. It establishes the WAC as part of the Regular Army. COL Hallaren is appointed Director, WAC (DWAC).
1949 - WAC AUS Terminated
The WAC, Army of the United States (AUS) is terminated.
Women who are honorably discharged from the WAC (AUS) reenlist in the WAC Regular Army.
Secretary of Defense orders the Army to revise their racial policy.
1950 - First Commissions Offered
The first direct commissions are offered to women college graduates as second lieutenants in the Organized Reserve Corps.
Upon acceptance, they would attend the WAC Company Officers' Course.
1952 - Hallaren Completes tour
Hallaren completes tour as Director, WAC, and is reduced to lieutenant colonel and given reassignment.
Hallaren is replaced by Colonel Irene O. Galloway.
1954 - WAC Officer Course Opens
First WAC Officer Advanced Course opens at the WAC School, Fort Lee, Virginia.
The school is shortly thereafter moved to Fort McClellan, Alabama.
WAAC personnel disabled in the line of duty are offered limited benefits under Veterans Administration.
Congress passes the Reserve Officers Personnel Act (ROPA).
1957 - Milligan Appointed Director of, WAC
Colonel Mary Louise Milligan is appointed Director, WAC, replacing Colonel Galloway.
Colonel Milligan is reappointed DWAC for two more years in 1961, to retire in 1962.
1962 - WAC turns 20
The WAC's 20th Anniversary.
Current strength is: 781 officers, 48 warrant officers, and 8,666 enlisted women - a total of 9,495
1963 - Weapons Training
The M1 carbine was replaced by the M14 rifle.
Weapons familiarization and voluntary firing of small arms is removed from WAC training -- The M14 was one pound heavier at 10 pounds and was considered too heavy for women.
WAC joins an Army Exhibit Program to educate the public and stimulate goodwill and support. The WAC unit was headed by LTC Mildred Bailey.
In 1974, however, voluntary weapons training is reinstated with the M16 rifle. In 1975, it becomes mandatory.
1965 - WAC Officers Assigned to Vietnam
The first WAC officers are assigned to HQ, US Army, Vietnam.
Approximately 800 WACs serve in Long Bihn, Siagon and throughout Vietnam as personnel administrators, intelligence and numerous other jobs.
Over 9,000 Army nurses serve in hospitals and medical clinics throughout Vietnam.
1966 - Hoisington Appointed Director
Colonel Elizabeth P. Hoisington is appointed Director, WAC, when Colonel Gorman retires.
1967 - WAC Strength Increases
Secretary of Defense approves the Army's request to increase WAC strength 38% by the end of 1969 for the Vietnam War.
Promotion and retirement rules are equalized for all officers in the Armed Services.
WACs can now serve in the Army National Guard.
PL 190 removed the restrictions on the number of women serving and the ceiling on the highest grade they could achieve.
1969 - WAC Foundation incorporated
The Women's Army Corps Foundation is incorporated to raise funds to construct a building for the WAC Museum at Fort McClellan, Alabama.
In May 1969 the first 3 women graduated from the Army War College.
1970 - First Female General Officers
President Nixon selects two women for promotion to Brigadier General: Colonel Anna Mae Hays, Chief, Army Nurse Corps, and Colonel Elizabeth P. Hoisington , Director, WAC, effective June 11, 1970.
These are the first two women general officers in the U.S. Armed Forces.
1971 - WACs Enter Schools and Academies
The Army Chief of Staff authorizes WACs entry into male Drill Sergeant Schools and NCO Academy Programs.
Starting in 1971, Women are allowed to command men except in combat units for the first time in history.
1973 - Flight Training and Expansion
Army Chief of Staff approves Army flight training for WAC officers - both helicopter and fixed wing aircraft.
Draft ends and All Volunteer Force opens the door to opportunities for women.
Also that year, he authorizes enlisted women to enter Parachute Rigger training and jump school, along with another major WAC expansion from 23,800 to 50,400 by the end of 1979.
1974 - First Black Command Sergeant Major
Sergeant Major Mildred C. Kelly is appointed Command Sergeant Major at HQ U.S. Army Proving Ground.
She is the first black command sergeant major in the WAC.
1975 - Women Admitted to All Academies
Mandatory defensive weapons training initiated for enlisted women.
Colonel Mary E. Clarke appointed as Director, WAC, and is promoted to Brigadier General when General Bailey retires.
1976 - Enlistment Grows
Congress reduces the minimum enlistment age of women to the same as men - age 17 with parental consent, age 18 without consent.
Twenty enlisted women enter the US Military Academy Preparatory School, Fort Monmouth, NJ; 17 graduate.
Women authorized to serve the same length of overseas tours as men.
One hundred and twenty women enter the US Military Academy, to join the graduating class of 1980.
WAC total strength grows to 46,444.
1977 - First Combined Gender Classes
The first combined gender class of Military Police One-Station-Unit Training begins at Fort McClellan, and Signal Corps OSUT begins at Fort Gordon, Georgia.
Women begin to serve as crew members at long-range missile and rocket sites and in nuclear security.
First women are commissioned in the Field Artillery and Air Defense Artillery branches.
1978 - WAC Officially Disestablished
The positions of Director and Deputy Director, WAC, are discontinued and their members reassigned. The WAC is officially inactivated as a separate Corps.
Men and women begin training at the same basic training units at Fort McClellan, Fort Jackson, Fort Dix, and Fort Leonard Wood.
BG Mary E. Clarke is promoted to Major General. Active Military Service
1980 - Active Military Service
Secretary of Defense announces that WAAC service is to be considered active military service for all laws administered by the Veterans Administration.
Women now make up 9.1 percent of the Army.
1981 - Army Freezes Enlistment
The Army Freezes end strength of enlisted women at 65,000 and officers at 7,200.
1982 - Return to Separate Training
The Army announces the return to separate basic training for men and women.
Women's enlistment numbers increase again.
1983 - Grenada Operations
More than 100 women participate in Operation Urgent Fury, Grenada.
Women are allowed to fly helicopters for the first time in an armed conflict.
Women served as MPs, intelligence officers, mechanics and logistics specialists.
Army institutes its new assignment system: Direct Combat Probability Coding-DCPC.
1989 - Woman Soldier leads troops
Over 700 women participate in Operation Just Cause, Panama.
Captain Linda Bray becomes the first woman to lead US troops in combat.
1990 - Persian Gulf
Approximately 26, 000 women were deployed to the Persian Gulf. Women commanded brigade, battalion and company size units in combat support and combat service support units.
Women were assigned to forward support units, 270 served with patriot missile battalions in Saudi Arabia, Israel and Turkey.
1LT. Deborah Gilmore of the 94th Regional Support Command, Devens, Mass., had her picture taken with a directional sign in Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Gulf War. This was the first large scale mobilization of the Army Reserve in almost 2 decades.
1992 - Humanitarian aid in Somalia
President George H.W. Bush orders American troops to Somalia to provide humanitarian assistance.
1993 - New policy for women in combat
Secretary of Defense Les Aspin announces a new policy directing the services to train and assign women on combat aircraft and most combat ships, though no women are to be assigned to positions in direct ground combat.Combined basic training
1994 - Combined Basic Training
Aspin's new assignment policy for women is signed into effect January 13, 1994.
Army Chief of Staff orders combined male-female basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. More locations follow.
1995 - Overseas Service, West Point Honors
Women serve in the Bosnian Operation in a variety of positions, including jobs in the Quartermaster Corps, Combat Stress Detachment, Transportation Company, Signal, and in Military Intelligence.
Second Lieutenant Rebecca Marier becomes West Point's first woman valedictorian.
1996 - Women’s Roles Expand
The roles of Army women and the assignments open to them gradually expanded in the 1990s.
The Old Guard had the first woman assigned ever to guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
1997 - LTG Claudia Kennedy
Claudia Kennedy becomes the first woman to attain the rank of lieutenant general in the U.S. Army.
1999 - Kosovo
Numerous Army women have participated in Operation Joint Guardian, a NATO led peacekeeping operation in Kosovo.
Many joint and multi-national jobs are made available to women who work with country nationals of France, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, Poland, Greece and Ukraine to name a few.
2001 - BG Coral Wong Pietsch
Coral Wong Pietsch becomes the first Asian-American woman to attain the rank of Brigadier General in the U.S. Army.
2003 - Female Numbers Up
Total percentage of females in the Army is 15.2%, up from 9.8% in 1983.
The greatest increase is in female warrant officers; they comprised 1.3% in 1983, 3.8% in 1993 and 7.1% in 2003.
2004 - Security Heightened on US Borders
After 9/11, security was heightened along all US borders. Many Soldiers volunteered for duties such as this woman in a photo taken along the Texas border.
2005 - SGT Hester Awarded Silver Star
Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester, Kentucky Army National Guard becomes the first woman to earn the Silver Star for direct combat action.
Women make up a significant portion of the total Army: The Active Duty Army, 69,700 at 14.4%, the Reserve and Guard, 42,100 at 12.7%.
2006 - Modern Missions
CW2 Emmons prepares pallets onboard a C1-30 Hercules. The pallets contain medical supplies, food and blankets to be air-dropped to soldiers in rural parts of Afghanistan who will distribute them to needy villagers.
2007 - Spc. Monica Brown
Spc. Monica Brown is the second female Soldier since World War II to be awarded the Silver Star.
Women make up a significant portion of the total Army: The Active Duty Army, 69,700 at 14.4%, the Reserve and Guard, 42,100 at 12.7%.
2008 - First Woman Four Star General
Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody became the first female four-star general in military history and also became the first female to lead a major Army command (Army Materiel Command).
2010 - First Woman Soldier of Year
First female selected as Best Warrior's Soldier of Year. Read More
2011 - Horoho assumes command of MEDCOM
Commission recommends women be allowed in combat arms. Read More
Maj. Gen. Susan S. Lawrence became the Army's new chief information officer/G-6. Read More
Brig. Gen. Gwen Bingham celebrated her promotion to general officer. Bingham is the first female to serve as quartermaster general and the first female African-American Quartermaster Corps general. Read More
Maj. Gen. Patricia D. Horoho assumes command of MEDCOM. Read More
Lt. Gen. Patricia D. Horoho takes oath as first nurse, female surgeon general. Read More
2012 - First Woman promoted General within Army Corps of Engineers
Brig. Gen. Margaret W. Burcham became the first woman to be promoted to general officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Read More
Army to open 6 jobs, combat battalion staff positions to women. Read More
Army's first female division deputy commander to lead 'America's First Team' Read More
West Virginia woman signs on as first female Bradley mechanic Read More
1st Cav farewells senior leadership, welcomes first female deputy CG Read More
First female four-star general retires from Army Read More
Field Artillery unit welcomes first female battery commander Read More
101st Airborne Division receives first female chaplain in combat arms unit Read More
Corpus Christi Army Depot welcomes its first female test pilot Read More
2013 - Women Enter Combat
Secretary of Defense rescinds 'Direct Ground Combat Definition and Assignment Rule' Read More
New York Guard to begin moving women into combat battalions Read More
