Narrator: Bettie Lerdall Interviewer: Josh Sievers    JS: How long did you serve in the military?  BL: I was in the Marines for a little better than three years and the rank I obtained was Platoon Sergeant but they don't have that rank today; it would be equivalent to a Staff Sergeant. The only difference is while I was in, a Staff Sergeant would be someone that would be doing clerical work or something like that, and so that's where they differentiated... [a] Platoon Sergeant was somebody in the field.   Narrator: Ruth Maiden Interviewer: KC Haas    KH: What rank did you obtain? Your personal rank?  RM: What was I called? Technical sergeant first class; I think I had three stripes up and two down and I made $119/month, by the time I got that rank. My job called for it. Other women who were working just as hard but weren't working for brigadiers or generals and other lieutenant colonels, they didn't make near as much as what I did; they just got regular Corporal's pay. Well my job paid for it because it was highly classified. You know the secretaries of today would go crazy because every Friday the general I worked for and the other officers would call Washington, and they would tell them how many men and women were going to graduate that week in the different classes; it was all signal corps. I had to take the stupid conversation down in short hand because we didn't have  any machines to do it with. I'll tell you, I really sweated that because sometimes you couldn't hear; the lines weren't very good those days. And if you are ever in the service, you never ask a general to repeat what he said [laughs]. But I hated that. I would tape that conversation for an hour every Friday afternoon and then I would have to transcribe it, and I was hoping I got most of it right because I could not ask a general or even a colonel to repeat what he just said. Sometimes you could even hear the lines sagging. It's so different now-a-days because everything is automatic.   Narrator: Dorothy Kachur Interviewer: Mike Petrielo    MP: How long did you serve?  DK: Three years and one month. MP: Three years and one month. DK: I was a corporal. MP: That was the highest rank you had?  DK: Yeah. [discussion about wages]  MP: About the ranks with the women. Do you think, could women reach the   highest ranks at that time?  DK: At that time they couldn't get to, uh, I think, uh, Colonel Hobby she   was a colonel, I think. She was the only one and I don't think many   women got to be higher than captains, not very many, there wasn't any, I   didn't know of any, I mean there could've been. MP: Now-a-days I think women climb the ranks pretty well. DK: Yeah, Oh yeah. They get in too fast…the women do. MP: Yeah? Think so?  DK: Yeah, really I do. Yeah, you know now they don't have to stay in their   position long to get their rank. MP: Was there a difference when you were in the military? Did men move   higher up in rank than women?  DK:  Oh yes I would say so, but they deserved it. MP: Really?  DK: You know what I mean? They did it because they were really doing   something. The women really weren't doing that much. I don't know why they   got that high rank except for that they'd be a boss, you know, like we had   lieutenants and a captain at our base; that's all we had. And they were   nice, real nice women.   Narrator: Helen Brenaman Interviewer: Kristin Sowden    KS: How long did you serve in the military?  HB: Two years, two months, and two days, and I forgot how many hours [Laughs]. KS: What rank did you obtain?  HB: Radio man 3rd class.