KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany -- On March 1, the 21st Theater Sustainment Command will officially take over responsibility of the Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention program from U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern's Army Community Services during the final phase of the SHARP program's transition.
Since its inception in 2009, ACS has been the first responder for incidents involving sexual assault. With the transition, the 21st TSC will become the primary agency responsible for the handling of sexual assault incidents throughout the Kaiserslautern Army community.
"(ACS) has always had the overall hierarchy of SHARP and so we fell under them for response purposes," said Sgt. 1st Class Aimee Wilson, the 21st TSC's SHARP program manager and a native of Boston. "Now we are in the transitional phases of SHARP. We are taking over and this is going to be our program."
The largest change people will notice with the transition will be a new SHARP hotline number victims can call to report an incident, which will become available March 1.
"The phone number change just makes (the 21st TSC) the primary responders," said Wilson. "The phone number that ACS responds to is still in effect."
After the transition, individuals can expect the same level of professionalism and dedication out of the 21st TSC SHARP representatives as they would with the ACS representatives.
"I don't think individual communities will see much of a difference… but the 21st TSC will see a difference because our scope has widened," said Wilson. "We're not just responsible for our subordinate commands; we're now responsible for the Kaiserslautern area as well as a lot of units throughout Europe."
"Now that doesn't mean that ACS isn't a responder anymore, because they are," said Wilson. "If someone has an issue they are trying to report and they don't want to report it to the military, for whatever reason, they still have the option of reporting to ACS."
With the transition people will notice "the military is going to start to become more involved with SHARP," said Wilson. "We're working to change the culture and to make it a day to day thing where people live the Army values and the SHARP program carries through with that."
"The (SHARP) program is important to the Kaiserslautern community for the same reason it is important to the rest of the Army, because one victim is too many," said Maj. Gen. Aundre F. Piggee, the commanding general of the 21st TSC. "Unfortunately, sexual harassment and assault is an issue in the Army and in our community. Soldiers who are affected by it need to have the best response possible and SHARP representatives provide that."
If you wish to report an incident of sexual assault, please contact the 21st TSC SHARP hotline at DSN 484-7280 or commercial 0631-413-7280. The line is open 24-hours a day, seven days a week and covers the Kaiserslautern Military Community, Baumholder and Stuttgart.
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