FORT HOOD, Texas - Preparing for their upcoming deployment to South Korea, Soldiers from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, took a break from loading equipment and gear, to focus on the Army's Sexual Harassment/Assault Response Prevention program in a conference here Dec. 7.
"It's about what we allow, and how we treat each other," said Col. John DiGiambattista, commander, 1st ABCT. "We set the tone for our formations when it comes to SHARP."
Leaders at every level spent the day discussing, questioning, and broadening their understanding of the Army's SHARP program and policies.
After opening remarks from DiGiambattista, the conference kicked off with a discussion panel comprised of the brigade SHARP leader, the Special Victim Counsel, Special Victims Prosecutor from 1st Cavalry Division, and an investigator from the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command from South Korea.
The panel discussed any concerns the command teams may have had and covered any new or changed policies that have come out. The guests also explained the many roles and responsibilities of their offices, best practices and lessons learned for leadership.
After lunch, the Ironhorse leadership split up into different rooms to conduct battalion-level sessions. Each battalion commander led their teams through SHARP refresher training and discussion groups of various scenarios.
"We train the leaders, and they take what we taught them on to their Soldiers and educate them that this is serious and nothing to gloss over," said Command Sgt. Major Anthony Carter, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 1st ABCT.
These bi-annual sessions are a way to keep leadership, and new leaders, up-to-date on policies and procedures, said Sgt. 1st Class Robert Crow, brigade SHARP noncommissioned officer.
The CID agent discussed local trends in South Korea, area layout and preventative measures commanders have been using to prevent sexual harassment and sexual assault from happening in their formations.
"This SHARP conference here is definitely an eye-opener - if anything else, I'm sure there is going to be a lot of take-aways and that's the learning piece of this conference," said Carter.
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