by Mary Ellen Condon-Rall
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, March 29, 1999) -- U.S. Army Europe has made its family support training an important part of preparing for contingency operations, such as the current NATO deployments to the Balkans.
Last year, USAREUR created a Family Assistance Center Exercise to train rear detachment commanders, family support liaisons (unique to USAREUR), family support group leaders, Family Assistance Center personnel and community support agencies to help families cope with NATO deployments.
Today USAREUR has 21 Family Assistance Centers operating under Army Community Service offices in support of Operation Joint Forge. And USAREUR is planning for how Family Support System training will be carried out in the future.
Strong families, aided by Army programs, have helped build and sustain NATO forces over the years, officials said.
When NATO was created in 1949, family needs had not yet received little attention from the Army. The retention of quality soldiers necessary to maintain readiness necessitated the strengthening of the Army's formal obligation to provide for its families -- a process that proved slow but continuous.
The presence of Army families in Europe was also thought to promote better relations with U.S. allies and present an example of the American way of life. During the Berlin blockade of late 1948 and early 1949, which resulted from deteriorating relations with the Soviet Union, the presence of American families took on political significance. One thousand family members chose to remain in Berlin, determined not to be intimidated and ready to stand by their allies.
Once entrusted to NATO, U.S. forces built up rather quickly. On Nov. 24, 1950 the constabulary headquarters in Stuttgart became Headquarters, Seventh Army. Within one year, four divisions deployed to Europe from the United States, and the V and VII Corps arrived. On Aug. 1, 1952, a new joint headquarters, United States European Command (EUCOM), was established in Frankfurt and then relocated to Paris. The EUCOM headquarters in Heidelberg was redesignated US. Army Europe. With the troops came thousands of family members.
As dependents rose from 58,000 in 1953 to about 170,000 by 1959, it became increasingly necessary for the Army to pay greater attention to family needs. In 1957 DOD issued the "Rotation and Overseas Movement of Dependents" directive which promised equity among military families wherever they might serve. USAREUR dependents received commissary and PX privileges and medical care. Dependent schools improved and multiplied. Their enrollment increased from 29,000 students in 1953-54 to 68,200 ten years later. Finally, DOD authorized a major on-base housing construction program.
Self-contained American communities in Europe emerged. These neighborhoods possessed masonry apartment buildings and single homes grouped together in little American villages with schools, movie theaters, bowling alleys, delicatessens, beauty and barber shops, libraries, chapels, playgrounds, community centers, tennis courts, baseball diamonds and golf courses. The Army was attempting to give USAREUR dependents the type of environment to which they were accustomed in the United States, and thus keep good soldiers in Europe. By the end of the 1950s, there were 25,000 family housing units in Germany.
Family members in USAREUR began to outnumber military personnel in the 1960s, as a result of the Vietnam War, and the pro-family atmosphere created by the establishment in 1965 of Army Community Service, an umbrella agency for various family support services. USAREUR's dependent schools became overcrowded with more than 130,000 American children attending. Outdated facilities, equipment and school texts compelled teachers to become more creative and imaginative.
The advent of the All Volunteer Force in 1973, the rise in married personnel to 60 percent of the military force by 1978, and the Women's Rights movement resulted in a proliferation of workshops, conferences, and research projects on family and quality of life issues. In 1972 the Office of Management and Personnel permitted defense personnel dependents to be hired overseas, signaling the emergence of the working military wife in USAREUR.
There was a great rise in attention to families Armywide during the 1980s. The decade saw the establishment of the Army Family Liaison Office, which served as an independent advocate to Army families; the Army Family Symposia, run by family members, which identified and recommended solutions to family support problems; the Army Family White Paper, that formally recognized the special relationship between the Army and families as important to mission accomplishment, and the Army Family Action Plans, which strategized ways to improve family support policy and structure. All of these actions helped Army families to sustain the soldiers that strengthened the NATO alliance.
In 1986 the Defense Authorization Act gave hiring preference to spouses overseas. One year later, the construction of 1,800 new housing units was begun at 12 different locations in Europe. ACS provided outreach activities for new arrivals, and introduced the Family Learning About Germany, or FLAG program, which offered language and culture classes and practical advise about living and traveling in Germany. During the post-Cold War drawdown, ACS initiated relocation counseling, a relocation automated information system, as well as expanded housing relocation assistance.
By 1993, USAREUR had reorganized its 39 communities into 12 Area Support Groups --or ASGs -- which officials said eliminated bureaucracy, saved money and made commanders more responsive to community members. ASGs and the smaller Base Support Battalions and Area Support Teams provided quality of life services and facilities that a small municipal government would provide. Child care services became state-of-the-art. USAREUR also improved the quality of life for the single soldier, installing more telephones, kitchenettes and permitting decorating and arranging quarters as desired.
(Editor's note: Dr. Mary Ellen Condon-Rall is a staff member of the U.S. Army Center of Military History. This is the fourth article in a 50th anniversary series on NATO which will culminate with coverage of the Washington Summit April 23-25.)
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