FORT STEWART, Ga. – Soldiers of 4-3 Brigade Special Troops Battalion and 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, both of 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, or the Vanguard Brigade, of 3rd Infantry Division, raised awareness for sexual harassment and assault on Fort Stewart, Georgia, April 21, 2015, during an obstacle course event.
“We wanted to raise awareness for sexual assault in a different way,” said Staff Sgt. Delia Watts, a human intelligence collector and the Sexual Harassment and Assault Response Program representative for 4-3 BSTB, 4th IBCT.
The course included 10 obstacles, including flipping tires, sprints, low-crawls, litter carries and other exercises all themed with emotions a sexual assault survivor might experience and concluded with a guest speaker, who shared her experience as a survivor of sexual assault.
Many of the obstacles included simulated impairment goggles, which distort vision and help to demonstrate the concept of impairment. Watts said the most challenging part of planning the event was tying emotions to physical actions.
“This was definitely more active and fun than sitting in a classroom,” said Spc. Brandon McClure, a multichannel systems operator maintainer with 4-3 BSTB.
McClure said he thought the course helped him to empathize with sexual assault survivors in a different way and that one obstacle stuck out in his mind the strongest.
“I think the back low-crawl had the most correlation for me,” said McClure, a native of Colonial Heights, Virginia.
“That one represented fear.”
McClure said the back low-crawl, in which teams crawled on their backs to the next obstacle, was filled with uncertainty because of the drunk goggles, so he was unsure of where he was going or who he was bumping into.
“I’m hoping that we have soldiers that took something from this that they normally wouldn’t get in a Power Point slide,” said Watts, a Houston native.
“I’m so glad it turned out the way it did,” said Watts. She added the positive response to the unique training permeated rank, as well as gender, and she received exactly the feedback she was looking for from the event.
“We as soldiers should intervene if there’s a situation,” said Watts. “If there’s a sexual assault or sexual harassment that has already occurred, then be a battle buddy for that
survivor.”
“People struggle and go through this whole experience, and definitely not in the 15 minute time span that we did these exercises,” said McClure. “It’s a huge process that takes a long time to cope with and they need support.”