Fort Gordon declares April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month

By Brandon GatesApril 4, 2014

Fort Gordon, GA (WFXG) -

Military officials came together at Fort Gordon for Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

In a ceremony Monday, representatives from nearly all military branches signed a pledge and released balloons as a commitment to stand up for sexual assault and encourage people to report it.

Fort Gordon's commanding general also signed a proclamation at the ceremony.

"This is important to the survival of our military," said Major General LaWarren Patterson. "One sexual assault or one sexual harassment is one too many. We're all soldiers. We're all service members, airmen, marines and we need to treat each other with dignity and respect and treat each other as battle buddies. So when one soldier or service member commits an act on another soldier, service member we treats that seriously."

The theme for this year's department of defense's 2014 campaign is "Live Our Values...Stand up and Stomp Out."