The Bugle Boy May/June 2012
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ARMY COMMUNITY SERVICE 1
SPOTLIGHT: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ACS
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS
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WHAT’S UP IN SOUTH FLORIDA
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FAMILY SUPPORT CENTER NEWS
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WHAT’S UP IN FAMILY & MWR
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rom the pioneer days to the all-volunteer Army of today, the concept of humanitarian concern for the welfare of others exists as a foundation of the Army way of life. Army posts, familiar to the pioneers, were oftentimes isolated and located in hostile and dangerous environments, seldom located near a civilian community, and had limited and infrequent communication with the world outside its protective fortifications. The early day Army existed as a closely knit, distinct and generally self-sufficient society. The pioneer Army wife knew hardship in her environment, but she established an enviable pattern of personal sacrifice and compassion still found in the Army spouse of today. For years, Army wives operated lending closets, thrift shops, and nurseries; raised funds to help the needy; assisted in emergencies; taught and trained the inexperienced; provided care and comfort to the ill and bereaved; and through a grass roots understanding of the Army community, contributed significantly to its stability. An adverse aspect of these social service activities was that they often disappeared or stagnated when their originators transferred or left the service.
forces, and their deployment worldwide had a devastating impact on American Family life. Long separations, lack of communication, meager pay, fear, and reports of casualties brought disruption and insecurity to Army families who shared this experience. An important resource for the alleviation of social welfare problems of Soldiers and their Families came in the 1940s in the form of Army Emergency Relief (AER). Funded by donations of the American public and proceeds of the Irving Berlin Broadway hit “This is the Army” AER offices were located at Army posts throughout the United States in 1941. One large metropolitan AER office, and the only one so established, was located in New York City on 5 February 1942.
Staffed by military and civilian personnel and a large number of civilian volunteers, this unusual quasi-military organization operated under the supervision of the 1202nd Service Command Unit. In March 1944, the AER office was redesignated “Personnel Affairs Branch,” but continued its same operations with a slightly altered but effective relationship with AER funding. In operation until the end of WWII, this organization through an interesting coincidence provided the Army Community Service (ACS) was designed framework for development of ACS more than to eliminate this adverse aspect and provide 20 years later. a flexible framework for the operation of a viable system of social services. Changes in In providing assistance, the New York AER not the Army community have been substantial only had access to AER funds, but also drew and significant, and reflect the changes of the on a network of resources from Salvation Army, larger society which it serves; however, the Department of Welfare, Navy Relief, Catholic major impact of these changes has been most Charities, and many other civic organizations to ease the problems and hardships of Soldiers apparent since 1940. and their Families. Civilian psychiatrists, social In 1940, the active Army numbered 269,000 workers, lawyers, and the police donated their of whom only 25 percent were married. The professional expertise to assist in difficult cases, advent of World War II (WWII) rapidly altered free of charge. continued on page 7 this picture. The rapid buildup of U.S. defensive