Photo By Senior Airman Cassandra Whitman | Tech. Sgt. Catherine Truesdell, 354th Operations Support Squadron noncommissioned...... read more read more
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EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska - Eielson held an exercise Jan. 21 called the “Thanks for Asking” campaign, designed to measure bystander intervention and raise awareness for domestic violence. Exercises that focus on bystander intervention have helped thwart domestic violence, sexual assault, abusive alcohol consumption and suicide.
Domestic violence is a pattern of abusive behavior in an intimate relationship used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another. Domestic violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic, or psychological. One in four women and one in seven men have been the victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime.
For the campaign, 20 volunteers wore makeup to resemble bruises, cuts and choke marks observed in domestic violence relationships.
First Lt. Kelly Wheeler, a nurse with the 354th Medical Group, had a bruise on her left eye for the exercise. She said she felt embarrassed to adorn the mark and that the day wasn’t going to be easy.
“I feel people are going to have a joking response to this,” Wheeler said. “I don’t think they are automatically going to think it’s abuse.”
Tech. Sgt. Joshua Stillwagon, 354th Operations Support Squadron deputy airfield manager, also donned a bruise on his eye and had similar feelings as Wheeler.
“I think people are going to be sarcastic,” Stillwagon said. “I also believe it’ll be an eye-opener for most people who ask.”
The campaign was conducted all day. The volunteers were provided cards to give to the people who asked them about their injuries. The card explained they were part of a campaign to raise awareness and listed the resources Eielson offers to victims of domestic violence.
The volunteers reconvened at the end of the day to share the experiences they had.
Stillwagon had 19 people ask him what happened. Most of those people thought it was a sports related injury rather than domestic violence.
“Although I expected a lot of sarcasm from those who spoke with me, I got a lot of concerned responses instead,” Stillwagon said.
Master Sgt. Denielle Hilliard, 354th Force Support Squadron assistant lodging manager, was emotional with the responses she received. Six people asked her what happened when they saw the bruise on her eye while more than a handful didn’t ask.
“I was upset,” Hilliard said. “I’m not even truly going through this and I got the feeling that no one cared.”
Wheeler had 20 individuals ask her throughout her day.
“I heard some talking behind my back at first,” she said. “They came and asked me later on what happened, but it still didn’t feel good. However, I am happy that I was a part of this campaign. It gave us the opportunity to educate others and talk about the issue.”
Wheeler also had those who were genuinely concerned for her, and even had a couple people share their own story.
A consistent trend seen throughout the group of volunteers was that most people used a joking tone to approach the question.
Capt. Abigail Rose, 354th Medical Group mental health provider, explained this is a hard topic for many people to openly talk about. Sometimes making a joke means a person wants to acknowledge the injury, but is uncomfortable.
“This is why we want to give our community the tools to speak with possible victims.” Rose added, “Questions like ‘Are you safe at home?’ or ‘Did your partner do this to you?’ are good questions to ask. Using sarcasm has the potential to cause the victim to feel uncomfortable.”
The biggest take-away the volunteers of this campaign had, was to just ask. Even if it feels uncomfortable, it might just help someone out by asking. Whether you are a male, female, an officer, a senior noncommissioned officer or an Airman, taking the initiative to make sure your wingmen are safe could potentially save a life.
For more information on domestic violence, contact these agencies:
Family Advocacy Program-907-377-4041; 24-Hour DoD Safe Helpline-877-995-5247; Air Force Sexual Assault Crisis Line-907-377-7272; and the Interior Alaska Center for Non-Violent Living-907-452-2293 or 800-478-7273
| Date Taken: | 01.21.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 02.01.2016 19:00 |
| Story ID: | 187630 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 77 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, ‘Thanks for Asking’, by SrA Cassandra Whitman, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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