EO office ensures Soldiers receive fair treatment

Courtesy Photo | Sgt. 1st Class Nichelle Sanders, the senior equal opportunity and human relations advisor for 3rd Corps Support Command, reviews information for EO programs.  

03.23.2006

Courtesy Story

207th Public Affairs Detachment

Ensuring all Soldiers have equal opportunities to succeed in the Army is a vital mission that isn't put aside in a combat zone.

Sgt. 1st Class Nichelle A. Sanders, the senior equal opportunity and human relations advisor for the 3rd Corps Support Command, strives to maintain a fair work environment for every Soldier assigned to the 3rd COSCOM.

"Our job is to ensure that everyone is treated fairly, regardless of their race, color, gender, national origin and or religion, and we prevent them from being sexually harassed," Sanders said. "We educate and train people to have unit representation down at the unit so that they'll have another level in the chain-of-command to go through to assist with any issues they may have."

Sanders and her staff have enhanced the mission by helping train EO representatives to serve at unit levels.

"Because we're deployed, we're authorized to do the Department of the Army course that's taught in the United States," Sanders said. "It's 80-hours long and we teach them what their duties and responsibilities are as equal opportunity representatives in their commands."

She said the program benefits the Army with an increased number of qualified EO representatives without the need to send Soldiers back to the U.S. for several weeks.

"We don't have to pay thousands of dollars to bring civilians over here to train the reps," said Sanders. "We're teaching and training, so we're saving the government an awful lot of money doing it ourselves."

Sanders said training EO representatives for each unit helps resolve issues quicker than using resources from outside the unit.

"We ensure the command team understands policies and procedures and help them to implement them. Mostly we're here to help them with the support of the climate within their unit," said Sanders. "The equal opportunity program is set up to handle issues at the lowest level. You can't do that if they have to go to the higher headquarters every time to get help."

Staff Sgt. Annette Tyler, the equal opportunity representative for the 400th Quartermaster Company, is a recent graduate of the EO representative training course taught at Logistical Support Area Anaconda.

She has used her newly-acquired skills to help organize several events, including an African-American History Month celebration.

"We researched famous African-Americans that people didn't know much about," said Tyler.

"We did 21 different [historical] people, and had people from the Army, Navy and Air Force trained as those people to give the audience a chance to meet them."

Tyler said she didn't want it to be the same black history theme that dominates other celebrations.

The event, called "Who am I?" required participants to learn about the person they represented before giving a three-to-five minute speech about the person's life and accomplishments.

Tyler added that the audience participation created a fun learning environment that helped people learn more about some less celebrated African-American contributions to American history.

"We still did the slide shows on slavery and the beginning and end, it's part of history and you have to do that," Tyler said. "But the part people don't know is inventors and stuff like that."

Tyler works on Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers (BOSS) programs, like the Anaconda Games including a track meet, basketball relays and spades games.

"It's part of EO too. It builds cohesion. You want people to get to know each other," said Tyler, noting that EO and BOSS share some common goals. "You want everybody to feel comfortable."

Tyler said she was reluctant to take on the role of EO representative originally, but that she's happy to fill the role now.

"It's a long class, and it's a whole lot of information. There's a lot of stuff that you thought you knew, but you realize you don't really know," Tyler said. "I see stuff in a different light now. I learned about different cultures and diversity. When you have a class of 35 people, you have a little of everything in it. You learn a lot about people."

She said the class was very challenging, and warned of the final examination.

"The test is no joke. It's not a military test, if you fail you have to take that whole thing again," Tyler said.

She said she has taken away some very important skills that help her, not only, in her duties as the EO representative, but also as an NCO and a person.

"You learn how to listen better. Every Soldier has a point when they're talking," Tyler said. "I'll listen to everything they have to say and point them in the right direction if it's not an EO issue."

Tyler added that although she was appointed to the position, she is happy to fill the job.
"I'm glad I was," said Tyler. "It's made me a better person."

• Date Taken: 03.23.2006
• Date Posted: 03.23.2006 11:48
• Story ID: 5818