Why is W the UIC for the Army?

1LT Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 16:04:20 -0400

I’ve gone through the front pages of the Internet from the DoDAAC and thumbed through DVIDS even Wikipedia to learn of the formations of UICs. Agriculture is A Navy is N Marines are M F for Airforce.
What was the logic? What does W mean?

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 15 at 2020 4:35 PM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 16:35:36 -0400

I hope it wasn't for "Weird", the only thing I could think is, they ran out of alphabets and "W" was it.

Response by 1LT Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 15 at 2020 4:56 PM

1LT Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 16:56:11 -0400

Finally found it:
The War Department existed from August 7, 1789 until September 18, 1947, when it split into the Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force and joined the Department of the Navy as part of the new joint National Military Establishment (NME), renamed the United States Department of Defense in 1949

Response by SFC Kenneth Hunnell made Jun 15 at 2020 5:20 PM

SFC Kenneth Hunnell — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 17:20:05 -0400

W is for Army, if you are looking for logic. Try another line of work

Response by COL Jeffrey Carra made Jun 15 at 2020 5:32 PM

COL Jeffrey Carra — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 17:32:13 -0400

The DODAAC system was created for the entire federal government in WW2, believe it or not, and the Army was at the time called the War Department (this was before DOD was created) so since the US Department of Agriculture got the letter A the Army got the letter W.

Response by COL Jeffrey Carra made Jul 2 at 2020 3:02 PM

COL Jeffrey Carra — Thu, 02 Jul 2020 15:02:33 -0400

And another factoid ... the second character of a UIC has meaning as well: A Letter is MTOE, A Number is TDA.