Friday, July 5, 2013

TOP STORY >> Team Little Rock stands down for SAPR training

By Staff Sgt. Jake Barreiro
19th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

The men and women of Little Rock Air Force Base stood down operations to train on sexual-assault prevention and response here on June 28.

The stand-down day was mandated by Air Force leadership and part of a larger effort from the Department of Defense to establish a culture of mutual respect, professionalism and zero tolerance for sexual assault or harassment in the DoD.

For the training, Team Little Rock members across the base participated in small group discussions and attended an all-call at the Hercules Hall to hear from the 19th Airlift Wing and Installation Commander Col. Brian Robinson.

“We have you here because we want to reinvigorate our climate of mutual trust, respect and dignity,” said Robinson at his 12:30 p.m briefing, one of several held throughout the day.
During the all-call, the base commander told the audience that there is no room for sexual harassment or assault on Little Rock Air Force Base, and encouraged people to take a personal responsibility for eliminating the toxic crime, especially through bystander intervention.

“This isn’t just my responsibility or my commander’s responsibility,” he said. “This is a problem that we all need to address. If any of us see something wrong, we’ve got to step in and stop it.”

Robinson said TLR members can expect him and the LRAFB chain of command to support victims and investigate any reports of sexual misconduct to the fullest extent possible.
“We owe you that,” he said.

In addition to being briefed by the wing commander, the Staff Judge Advocate and Sexual Assault Response Coordinator talked to the crowd as well. Lt. Col. Shelly Schools, the base SJA, stressed being a good wingman and making a concerted effort to establish and maintain a culture of mutual respect.

“If you all commit to looking out for each other and being good wingmen we can mitigate this problem of sexual harassment and assault,” she said.

Frank Cope, base SARC, talked about sympathy for victims and highlighted the pernicious long-term consequences of sexual assault.

“Victims of sexual assault are three times more likely to suffer from depression,” he said. “They’re six times more likely to suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder, 26 times more likely to abuse alcohol or drugs and four times more likely to contemplate suicide.”

Cope said providing care and sympathy for victims is vital because he’s never seen a case where the victim of a sexual assault didn’t in some way blame themselves. Additionally he said while eliminating these violent crimes entirely may be hard, it all begins with not accepting disrespectful behavior.

“Don’t tolerate harassment and we can minimize sexual assault,” he said.

Robinson closed his brief with a terse message for the audience: do the right thing, accept responsibility and take care of each other.

“This is not a one and done,” he said. “I can tell you that we’re serious about this issue. There are no bystanders. We need to all be good wingmen and commit to caring for each other.”




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