Photo By Spc. Jose Rivera | A 3rd Infantry Division Soldier stands in front of the American flag at Fort Stewart,...... read more read more
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- Imagine standing at a gas pump one night next to a busy intersection. While filling your tank, you hear the screeching of tires and the clash of metal and glass from behind. As shards of headlight lenses are still flying through the air, you turn and see a destroyed motorcycle and an immobilized car. At the scene, a motorcyclist lays face down, motionless, in black asphalt.
What would you do?
One Dogface Soldier, who wishes to remain anonymous but will be identified as Rocky throughout the story, was at the scene and reacted immediately by going to the aid of the motorcyclist.
While reassuring the motorcyclist that he was going to be ok, “I then noticed there were two females standing next to the car, and the next thing I knew they started running away from the scene,” said Rocky. “I then got up and started to chase down the two females, ran into a backyard, spotted them and told them to stop and not to move. I also informed them that the Hinesville Police Department had already been called and are on their way.”
Captain Bill Kirkendall of the Hinesville Police Department said, “Any situation where a suspect flees from an incident/accident scene is potentially dangerous. In this particular accident, drugs packaged for sale as well as a stolen firearm were found in the vehicle.”
Soldiers of 3rd Infantry Division must attend bystander intervention annually at a minimum. They are trained to take initiative when they see something wrong and to act so they do not harm themselves or others.
“It doesn’t matter rank, gender or anything of that sort. You’re the one who noticed it, and you’re the one supposed to fix it,” said Sfc. Helen Osby, Sexual Assault Response Coordinator or SARC for 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division. “That’s your duty as a Soldier to [intervene].”
Osby added the Bystander Intervention initiative is working, and it starts at the top. “All the training that the senior leaders receive, they then pass it down to the lowest level.”
“It's the right thing to do legally, morally, and ethically in my nature to be a helper to others,” said Rocky.
Bystander intervention can be useful when law enforcement or other immediate assistance is not available. “Law enforcement needs community involvement and support in order to protect and serve; we can't do it alone,” said Kirkendall.
| Date Taken: | 06.24.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 06.27.2016 17:55 |
| Story ID: | 202584 |
| Location: | FORT STEWART, GA, US |
| Hometown: | FORT STEWART, GA, US |
| Web Views: | 188 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, The impact of Bystander Intervention, by SPC Jose Rivera, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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