FORT SILL, Okla. (July 30, 2015) -- On the west side of Building 4700, the first floor wing is filled with a network of employees looking to help Soldiers, family members and retirees with all of their needs.
That network is called Army Community Service.
ACS celebrated its 50th birthday of such service July 24 with photographs of employees and services offered in the past and a cake cutting.
"When I first got into ACS I came home after the first week and said, 'I just got to work and help people all day. Who gets to do that?' And, we make such a difference," said Jean Mills, ACS director.
She began her career in Heidelburg, Germany, in employment readiness before eventually taking her place here.
"The goal of ACS is to help make Soldiers and families more resilient," said Mills.
While service has remained forefront, she said the programs in ACS have become more professional and standardized across Army garrisons.
ACS RESOURCES:
Relocation Readiness Program
Volunteer Program
Mobilization and Deployment Readiness
Army Family Team Building
Army Family Action Plan
Soldier and Family Assistance Center
Exceptional Family Member Program
Sexual Harassment, Assault Response and Prevention Family Advocacy Program New Parent Support Program Financial Readiness Program Army Emergency Relief Military and Family Life Counselors
"We do the prevention side of things. We do a lot of the trainings, classes like True Colors: how your personality affects your relationships, annual troop training on domestic violence and child abuse, and more," said Mills.
She said they have also focused on making the classes more accessible to service members and families by offering weekend and evening classes and offering to teach specific modules as requested by the unit or family readiness group.
"Everybody is so busy. So instead of having some of the longer classes that ACS used to offer we put out the different portions of the classes.
"The goal here is to just be that support to the units. We have the Unit Service Coordinator (USC) Program where the brigades each have a unit service coordinator which is an ACS staff member and is their one point into ACS."
She said every month that staff member sends information out to the units.
"If they have a Soldier that has an issue they may start thinking which agency was it? They can call their USC and get that answer. That's our goal."
She said over the years ACS has also adjusted programs according to the needs of those they help.
"This wartime we were in changed the way a lot of programs and services are ran. We were plussed up quite a bit with the Army Family Covenant, we got a lot of resources and more staff. We really looked at what programs people needed."
She said the stress from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have created issues for families.
"I think at this point there's a lot of Soldiers that haven't really lived at home for any length of time because they've deployed, came back a year, deployed and came back for a year. It's just a different life when you get back and the family has to live together and make decisions together."
She said the wars created the need for programs such as Survivor Outreach Services and the Soldier Family Assistance Center for wounded Soldiers and their families.
"It just brought a lot of different challenges to families, and service members, and staff who also may have had their spouse deployed. So it's just been kind of a different time for ACS."
She said no matter the need of the service member, family member or retiree, ACS will help them solve their problem.
"Say somebody comes in to see the financial counselor and it turns out they're having a lot of stress. They're also looking for a job for the spouse which will help the whole situation -- then we refer to each other so we may get a (military family life counselor) to talk with the family. It's private and we refer them to employment readiness. We look holistically at what that Soldier or family needs."
For information about Fort Sill Army Community Service's programs, call 580-442-4916, or visit sill.armymwr.com.
Social Sharing