Photo By Staff Sgt. Larry Barnhill | Ze A. Surratt II, Rape Crisis Volunteers of Cumberland County sexual assault advocate...... read more read more
By Sgt. Larry Barnhill, 525th MI BDE Public Affairs
FORT BRAGG, N.C. – The 525th Military Intelligence Brigade hosted a Sexual Harassment/Assault Response Program (SHARP), Equal Opportunity (EO) and Retention Awareness Collaboration event at the Noncommissioned Officer Academy May 16.
The event was held in recognition of April being Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month (SAAPM) and featured several guest speakers.
Guest speakers were Margaret Green, former equal opportunity advisor, Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute instructor, SHARP mobile training team instructor and retired master sergeant, Chris Psaltis, Campbell University Department of Military Science recruiting operations officer, and Ze A. Surratt II, Rape Crisis Volunteers of Cumberland County sexual assault advocate and military liaison.
Green conducted the SHARP portion of the training and covered topics such as time limitations for filing a complaint, different types of complaints that can be made and who to complain to.
Green also stressed the importance of Soldiers helping each other when sexual harassment occurs.
“This is a very important topic, because the more you (Soldiers) help each other, the more able you are to stop it (sexual harassment),” said Green. “Most complaints are made because the complainant wants the harassment to stop.”
Surratt continued the instruction about sexual assault and rape by giving insight on how serious of a crime it is in North Carolina as well as alerting Soldiers to acronyms used by teens to "sext."
During her briefing, Surratt stressed how traumatic rape can be and the importance of making a victim feel comfortable when helping them through their ordeal.
“When they start talking, they’re coming at you from a bad place, they saw something in you that they trusted,” said Surratt. “If you’re not able to tell everyone about the best sexual experience of your life, how can a victim of rape talk about the worst sexual experience of their life to a group of strangers?”
In addition to mandatory training, "Lighting Brigade" Soldiers received information about different ways to attain a degree and commission via the Green to Gold program.
The Green to Gold program consists of three options, which include the Green to Gold Scholarship Option, Non-Scholarship Option, and Active Duty Option.
“At our program (Campbell University), we’re running an order of merit list. It’s very competitive to get into a Green to Gold program,” said Psaltis. “Already getting accepted into a university is key to getting accepted into the Green to Gold program.”
Along with mandatory training, "Lightning Brigade" Soldiers received in-depth information about sexual assault and harassment as well as knowledge about furthering their education and changing the course of their Army career.
| Date Taken: | 04.17.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 04.17.2015 13:17 |
| Story ID: | 160370 |
| Location: | FORT BRAGG, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 86 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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