Messsage of hope, 'Find your voice,' received on Joint Base Balad

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Zane Craig | Brig. Gen. Mark Corson, commander of the 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) and a Maryville, Mo., native, delivers the closing remarks at the Sisterhood Against Sexual Assault conference Jan. 10, at the Morale, Welfare and Recreation, East, Joint Base Balad, Iraq.  

JOINT BASE BALAD, IRAQ

01.10.2011

Story by Spc. Zane Craig 

103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary)

JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq - Approximately one hundred service members attended the Sisterhood Against Sexual Assault conference Jan. 10 at the Morale, Welfare and Recreation Center East, on Joint Base Balad, Iraq.

The theme of the conference was “finding your voice” to speak up for yourself to prevent yourself from being assaulted and to report any incidence of assault to your chain of command.

“The goal of SASA is to promote confidence building and self-esteem so soldiers don’t become victims,” said Col. Janice Dombi, engineer capacity development munitions chief, U.S. Forces-Iraq, and a San Francisco native.

Maj. Lisa Belcastro, J7 Engineering Capacity Development plans and operations officer with USFI and a Grand Prairie, Texas, native, came up with the idea for the program in March and the first conference was held in June at Camp Victory, Iraq.

Belcastro shared the story of how she achieved her successful military career despite being a newly divorced mother of three with no high school diploma at the age of 22. Belcastro found the support of her boss, Dombi, who had been assaulted during her basic training and later experienced sexual harassment. Together with their other SASA colleagues, it is their goal to show younger soldiers that victims of assault and harassment can still be high achievers in the military.

“The conference consisted of a raw kind of honesty and candor that isn’t often seen from higher-level leaders, as they shared their past experiences, including being sexually harassed and assaulted while serving in the military,” said Belcastro.

SASA and many service members present said it is unfortunate that sexual assault and harassment training is almost always in the form of a power point briefing. The SASA conference did not rely on power point, but included speakers who interacted with the audience, a skit, short videos, and a group exercise in which everyone participated.

Belcastro and Dombi say they would like to see SASA or a similar program implemented Army-wide, with SASA teams going from base to base to train commanders and perhaps reaching soldiers as early as during Advanced Individual Training.

“I think the program is very successful based on the feedback we’re getting,” said Dombi.

“Prevention can’t be measured. You can’t say how many people haven’t been sexually assaulted because of the program. What we see is women telling us they are getting treatment, talking to us about what happened to them, and getting help,” she said.

The future of the program and its goal of Army-wide implementation looks promising, as the SASA team has permission to begin the program at Fort Hood, Texas, in their upcoming redeployment to the United States.

This conference at Balad was the last to take place in Iraq featuring the current team led by Dombi and Belcastro. In what was surely an emotional day, it took place on Dombi’s birthday as well as her last day in country before returning home to retire from the military.

“You have the right to be treated with dignity and respect, male and female and to define what that means and to say something about it,” said Dombi, summarizing her message.

Unfortunately, sexual assault continues to be all too common, both in the military and the civilian worlds.

“When I was a teenager, I was a victim of sexual assault by a male,” said Brig. Gen. Mark Corson, commander of the 103rs Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) and a Maryville, Mo., native.

“Thankfully it didn’t go farther than it did. That person had no right to do that. That person made me feel disempowered and do you think I ever reported it? No. But you get over it. Except I shouldn’t have had to get over it. Nobody in the world should have to put up with that,” he said.

Corson acknowledged, as did the SASA members, that sexual assault can happen to males and females of all ages, but the most common victims are females between the ages of 18 and 24, the same age bracket Corson deals with in his civilian job as a college professor.

“I can tell you as a commander, I am absolutely committed to ensuring that justice is done and everyone’s rights are respected,” said Corson.

SASA and Corson emphasized that our right to be treated fairly comes with the responsibility to treat others the same way and to act in a way that indicates you are not willing to become a victim.

“Nobody asks to be assaulted, but also you don’t drive your Mercedes and wear your diamonds and Rolex into the bad part of town,” said Dombi, emphasizing the necessity of being aware of your surroundings and acting accordingly.

Soldiers are expected to demonstrate personal courage, one of the Army values. The soldiers who comprise SASA and others who share the stories of horrific events in their lives so the next generation doesn’t suffer the same kind of trauma.

• Date Taken: 01.10.2011
• Date Posted: 01.16.2011 17:11
• Story ID: 63653
• Location: JOINT BASE BALAD, IQ