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Lt. Gen. Jeffrey S. Buchanan, U.S. Army North commander, and senior leaders from the Joint Base San Antonio community hosted the JBSA 3rd Annual Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention (SHARP)/Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SARP) Summit held at the Ft. Sam Houston Community Center April 3 to discuss current topics in sexual assault awareness and prevention.
"Media coverage and societal awareness of sexual harassment and sexual assault have soared this past year as a result of misconduct charges sweeping across media, entertainment and other industries," said Jodie Garrett, for Senior Mission Command and Army North SHARP Program Manager.
The event helped command teams across JBSA and the Sexual Assault First Responders to gain a better understanding of sexual assault trends and gain knowledge from subject matter experts.
Speaking at the event was Mary Lauterbach, mother to Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach, a Marine who was raped and murdered at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina in 2007. Lauterbach now serves as a national advocate for victims in the military. She shared her daughter’s story, the factors that went wrong from the time of her reporting the rape, to her murder, as well as the key takeaways.
“Worth remembering, our system of justice is beautifully designed,” said Lauterbach. “It is very important that there is a presumption of innocence when someone is accused…But when someone does make an accusation they deserve to be protected. We owe it to the people reporting to protect them and keep them safe.”
It is through stories like that of Mrs. Lauterbach’s daughter that the military can learn and grow, improve practices and change the culture of sexual assault awareness.
Speaking after Mrs. Lauterbach was Russell and Myra Strand, co-presented Strand Squared: A Paradigm Shift and speaking on such topics as culture change, sex offenders and online dating.
Mr. Strand stressed we have to look at the culture we live in.
“Service members are more likely to be sexually assaulted by another service member than killed or wounded by a foreign enemy,” said Mr. Strand. “And that’s just our stark reality. So the roadmap to change is this: culture change.”
He emphasized the evolving nature of SHARP/SAPR training, years ago it focused just on skills but it has changed to build the need and desire to change. Only after innate need and desire for change can you see culture change.
Buchanan closed the summit by thanking the speakers and offered the following remarks, “We can’t take these problems and solve them if we don’t acknowledge them and try to really understand what’s really going on.”
To emphasize that point Buchanan, along with other senior leaders from Joint Base San Antonio signed the Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Proclamation. The Proclamation pledges the senior leaders commit to work together to educate our community about supporting survivors and standing against harmful attitudes and actions.
Concluding the ceremony, the Shelley Botello Compassionate Servant Award was presented to Sayama Turner, 502nd Air Base Wing Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Student Development Program Director. The following First Responders were also recognized during the ceremony: Sandra Hocking, 470th Military Intelligence Brigade and HM2 Diana Mendoza De Saenz, Navy Medicine Education, Training and Logistics Command.
Sexual assault awareness information will be distributed at various locations throughout April. Staff will share info about sexual assault realities, victim services and prevention tips.
Teal is the color representing Sexual Assault Awareness Month. All JBSA locations will have teal ribbons and flags or special teal lighting to demonstrate support to those JBSA survivors recovering from sexual assault.
The JBSA SAPR hotline number is 210-808-7272. Additionally, the other JBSA numbers are 210-808-8990 for JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, 210-671-7273 for JBSA-Lackland, and 210-652-4386 for JBSA-Randolph. Soldiers can call 210-221-0598, while Navy personnel can call 210-221-1496.
| Date Taken: | 04.03.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 04.19.2019 13:31 |
| Story ID: | 318829 |
| Location: | SAN ANTONIO, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 100 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, JBSA – Ft. Sam Houston Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Summit, by Lauren Padden, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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