ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md.-The APG Sexual Harassment and Assault Response and Prevention Resource Center provided an opportunity for attendees to ask questions and hear from Army leaders and subject matter experts during the fifth annual SHARP Summit in the Myer Auditorium, April 27. The U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command hosted the program.
The Army’s theme for Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month is “Building Cohesive Teams through Character Trust and Resilience. Protecting Our People Protects Our Mission.” Most attendees attended the event virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Installation SHARP Program Manager Tracy Marshall said the objective of the summit was to increase the knowledge of the sexual harassment reporting process and to provide an update on current SHARP policy.
“The summit served as a forum for the crossflow of information, ideas, and best practices for achieving a cultural of trust,” she said.
The educational program included guest speakers, testimonials and a panel discussion.
Crucial discussions
The SHARP Summit opened with a short video on sexual microaggressions. In this video, APG employees anonymously shared situations where comments or actions from co-workers created a hostile work environment.
APG Senior Commander and the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command Commanding General, Maj. Gen. Mitchell Kilgo provided opening remarks. He said we must continue to raise awareness of the SHARP program because sexual assault is a violation of trust. Preventing sexual harassment is everyone’s job, he said. We must continue to put people first.
“There is not a place for it [sexual harassment and assault] in our Army and there is not a place for it here,” he said. “It takes each of us working together to identify all forms of sexual harassment, including microaggressions. Sexual harassment affects us all. It is constantly lurking, looking for the opportunity to betray trust and readiness within our ranks whenever it can.”
Kilgo thanked the SHARP professionals in the SHARP Resource Center and other advocates.
“I appreciate your commitment to respect and empower every member of our community,” he said. “Together, we can eradicate all forms of sexual assault and harassment.”
The keynote speaker was Anselm Beach, the deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Equity and Inclusion.
Beach said according to social scientists, we are living in a time that is VUCA, which stands for volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. During times of isolation and stress, he said, we become less patient and interact less. This drives us to operate in “silos.” As a result, we see each other as less than human, which provides a pathway for destructive behaviors, like sexual harassment and assault, he said.
“At the end of the day they are all violations against our humanity,” he said.
He encouraged attendees to create a workplace environment of dignity and respect. We can change the Army, and the world, one connection at a time, he said.
“Sexual assault and harassment prevent us, every one of us, from bringing our best selves to the Army every day,” he said.
Providing feedback to leadership
Beach said the Army is focused on implementing actions that they hear from the force. Last year the Army launched Project Inclusion, an initiative to improve diversity, equity and inclusion across the force and build cohesive teams. Part of Project Inclusion includes listening sessions, called “Your Voice Matters,” he said. This forum allows the workforce to share their concerns with Army leadership.
“What we want to be able to do is to provide a feedback loop, so we can message back to the force that we heard you, and these are the steps that the Army is taking and these are the actions that (we) are being able to implement to correct what you stated to us were deficiencies,” he said.
Program updates
SHARP program updates were provided by Dr. James Helis, the director of the Army Resilience Directorate. Helis said the People First Task Force was established last fall in the wake of the Fort Hood Independent Review. The committee responsible for this review examined the command climate and culture at Fort Hood, Texas, and the surrounding military community after the disappearance and murder of Spc. Vanessa Guillén last year.
Helis said the Army’s number one priority is people and leadership and the PFTF is the kick-start effort in operationalizing that priority.
“[The Fort Hood Independent Review] has forced us to take a hard look in the mirror and say we are not doing what we need to do to take care of our people, our Soldiers, our civilians, our family members,” he said.
According to Helis, long-term culture change can take years, so “we can never take our eyes off the ball.”
“We are going to have to adjust our culture to truly put people first to make them that number one priority because without people, we cannot accomplish anything, we need to continue to press ahead,” he said.
Personal testimony
Jody Jackson, Equal Employment Opportunity director for the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command, gave a personal testimony about a time in his career where he experienced sexual harassment and assault. Jackson said this incident made him feel isolated and alone in the workplace. It also degraded his trust in the team, he said. Back then, he said, SHARP training did not exist, so he did not report the incident.
“My story happened some time ago, long before leaders engaged in the SHARP fight and back before I fully understood the impact sexual harassment could have on an individual in an organization,” he said. “I know better now, and I am proud to be a part of an event that highlights the destructiveness of this behavior.”
Jackson said this is why SHARP training is necessary for creating a culture of trust.
“I don’t want any one of my co-workers to experience what I did,” he said. “I would want each of you to say something if you see something.”
The event also included a panel discussion about the reporting process with Shea Lemuel, CECOM EEO director; Kristen Wickham, from the APG Civilian Personnel Advisory Center’s Labor and Management/Employee Relations Branch; Lt. Col. Jason Wells, CECOM Legal Office; Tracy Marshall, Installation/CECOM SHARP program manager and Col. Jennifer McDannald, deputy director U.S. Army Public Health Center.
Social Sharing