FORT SILL, Okla.- Combating sexual assault and harassment in our ranks is a top priority of the Department of Defense. Therefore Soldiers must stay up to date on training to ensure it stops with them. Finding new, creative and fresh ways to excite the Soldiers about this training is something that 3rd Battalion, 2nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade strives to do.

Last August 3-2 ADA held their third annual SHARP Stand-Up training event, this event allows the battalion stop all tactical training for one full-day to focus solely on educating Soldiers and Leaders in the battle against the threat of sexual harassment and sexual assault in the military.

The theme of the day was "Army Strong! But How SHARP Are You?" Soldiers from each the battalion's five batteries competed in multiple events earning for points to find out who was the 'SHARP'est unit in the battalion.

Sgt. 1st Class Khadijah Mitchell, the 3-2 ADA BN SHARP Representative said "I wanted to conduct the back to basic training because as I walk the footprint and interact with Soldiers, they all have the same questions pertaining to the basic reporting procedures and options. We wanted to get Soldiers comfortable with the basic prevention and intervention procedures and responsibilities."

It began with a physical training session that involved answering questions at multiple stations along a two-mile run-route. If the unit got the answer right they moved on to the next station, if they unit got a question wrong they all conducted a unified exercise.

By the end of the course, the Soldiers had built cohesion within their ranks and incorporated some of their knowledge about the SHARP Program in a fun and competitive way.

The second portion of the SHARP Stand-Up involved a series of classes from all of the battery-level SHARP representatives that focused on getting back to the basics on reporting procedures, policies and clarification on the differences between harassment and assault. During these sessions open dialogue was allowed to take place about reasons why sexual harassment and assault is not acceptable under any circumstances.

Being able to receive training directly from Battalion SHARP representatives gave the Soldiers a chance to become familiar with all of the representatives across the battalion.

The afternoon portion also involved a game of "SHARP Jeopardy," which involved units sending one representative to compete in the "mock" game show.

All of the Soldiers did an outstanding job answering questions about the reporting procedures, types of sexual harassment, characteristics of a hostile work environment, and the responsibilities of all parties involved in preventing a potential attack from happening.

"It was kind of like being on an actual game show," said Spc Tim Moss, C Battery, 3-2 ADA. "Everyone was really energetic, I enjoyed the environment; it wasn't your average SHARP training."

Staff Sgt. John Pryor, C Battery, 3-2 ADA also enjoyed the SHARP Stand-Up Training Event. "The SHARP representatives dedicated a lot of time and effort in putting it all together. I think it helped everyone pay attention and raised a lot of awareness in reporting procedures and just receiving that basic knowledge and information again is this way was a like a breath of fresh air. I think it was a great idea, and geared toward the Soldier's interests."

It was an excellent way to end the week and it reminded Soldiers of the values required to be part of the solution of changing the culture of our Army towards a safer and positive work environment. 3-2 ADA Soldiers looks forward to the next training event and appreciate the amount of effort and time that was put into making this event such a success.

Sgt. 1st Class Mitchell wants to continue to think outside of the box and come up with fresh ways to provide Soldiers with their training. "We just to continue finding innovative ways to bring the awareness and prevention tools to the Soldiers without using the PowerPoint class. We have found that this is working and Soldiers are responding well in regards to the retention of the material taught and tools used."