FORT SILL, Okla. -- Barbara Gratten was so impressed with Army Community Service as a military spouse in 1967, she decided to volunteer with them.
More than 5,000 volunteer hours later, she said ACS's focus on taking care of others is what kept her with the organization so long.
"It's the only organization that has a heart in the gyroscope," she said pointing to the former ACS logo.
She began volunteering in Munich shortly after her husband, William Gratten, returned from Vietnam.
"My husband had just got back and I was scheduled to have surgery. We had an ACS volunteer who lived in the first stairwell and she said 'We'll be able to take care of your children.'
"I was impressed. She was a very nice lady, so it went from there." As she flipped through an old album with pictures from past ACS events she explained back then volunteers had to earn their uniforms. They also had to sign up for a six-month commitment.
"The six months turned into six years," Gratten said with a laugh.
"I always say I don't get paid that's true, but my rewards are out of this world. And you do get a lot of experience too because there are things that you would never, never encounter any place else."
She said volunteering also helped her make lifelong friends as she went from Munich, to Fort Hood, Texas, to Crailsheim, Germany to Fort Polk, La.
"It doesn't matter where I went I always met people that I had met before." She said she enjoyed volunteering in the slew of positions with ACS because of the impact she made on those she helped.
"A lot of them were young brides and they had no idea about the Army, or anything. Over the years it's changed a whole lot. Back then most of the wives were not working and especially in a foreign country with not speaking the language I did a lot of translations for a long, long time.
"When I was here in the states I still had to translate the German into English so it didn't matter where I was."
ACS today
In the beginning ACS was made up of all service members and volunteers. Gratten remembers giving out welcome packets complete with recipes and going to visit homes of expectant mothers.
Jean Mills, ACS director, said while the staff has changed to mostly paid civilian positions, Gratten and others paved the way for many of the programs that have been standardized at every Army garrison.
She added though the need for volunteers in ACS has gone down it is still a definite need.
"For the Enrique Iglesias concert we had 160 volunteers. The number of volunteers may have changed, but we still get quality volunteers. And there are even those that work, that volunteer when they get off."
Gratten still enjoys helping others on a regular basis. Although she has branched outside of ACS, she was recently honored for having more than 8,000 volunteer hours with ACS and Red Cross.
ACS employees are celebrating the organization's 50th birthday July 24 with an open house and birthday cake available in Building 4700 from 1-4 p.m. in the MWR Training Room. For more information call 580-442-4916.
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