FORT RUCKER, Ala. (Sept. 3, 2015) -- Sexual assault and harassment continue to occur throughout the armed forces, but Fort Rucker is bringing awareness to the forefront to keep senior leaders educated on the matter.
The Fort Rucker Sexual Harassment/Assault Response Program will hold its first SHARP Summit on the installation at the regimental conference room of the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence Headquarters building Sept. 10 as a way to combat sexual assault, according to Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Blackman, USAACE sexual assault response coordinator.
"The objective of the summit is to inform leaders and validate the USAACE SHARP program while addressing the challenges that are specific to USAACE," said Blackman. "It's basically a forum where senior mission commanders will be able to address issues through in-depth presentations."
Each year, the chief of staff of the Army hosts a SHARP Summit, and through that summit he invites all general officers and principal NCOs across the Army to hold summits of their own, according to Blackman.
"This is the first time we're doing it here and we will have a total of eight different speakers throughout the summit," he said. "I will provide a review of the program, as well as some data trends that are specific to our installation for those in attendance, which is made up of brigade command teams and other senior leaders."
Some of the topics of discussion will be education on the processes of going through a sexual assault investigation, as well as in-depth views into different aspects of those investigations, such as the Special Victim Counsel Program, Blackman said.
"We've invited a sexual assault nurse examiner who will come in and talk about the sexual assault forensic exam, which should be an eye opener," said the SARC. "The (Criminal Investigation Command) will also come in and talk about the entire investigation process from start to finish to better help people understand everything that goes into an investigation like this."
Although Soldiers can oftentimes feel that they are being bombarded with SHARP training, Blackman said that there is still a lot that they and commanders don't know, which is one of the main reasons behind the summit.
"The goal of this is to enable those commanders to make informed decisions if they have a situation like this occur under their command," he said. "For example, with the SVC program, which is a relatively new program within the SHARP program, a lot of young commanders may not understand fully what the SVC program has to offer."
That education is necessary because sexual assault is not something that is easily prepared or practiced for, said Blackman, adding that since incidents don't occur very often, thankfully, it's not something that can be put into practice very often.
"If you compare this battle drill to something like shooting an M-16, you can go to the range every day and shoot a live gun for practice, but you can't go through a live sexual assault every day for practice," said the SARC. "You can practice for an Army Physical Fitness Test and get better at physical training, but how to properly execute the chain of events that need to occur after a sexual assault is not something that you can practice every day.
"That's why something like this is necessary," he said. "And, yes, Soldiers might feel like they're being bombarded by sexual assault training, but, in reality, we're not being bombarded enough because it's still happening."
The situation at Fort Rucker is not as severe as it is in other locations, added Blackman, but if there has been even one incident, then there's been one too many, he said.
"It's like having a casualty. One casualty is one too many, and it is a casualty," he said. "It takes away from the readiness of that unit and it degrades a unit's ability to complete its mission and conduct day-to-day operations. That's why we need to take care of Soldiers and make sure they're properly informed."
Related Links:
USAACE and Fort Rucker on Twitter
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