Thanks to the SHARP Academy, the field how has an excellent slide to show the overall impact of Sexual Harassment (SH) and Sexual Assault (SA) allegations and/or cases have on our formations. The top box explains how SA/SH degrades a unit’s readiness. As you will notice, the silhouette Soldiers and Civilians depict the results an incident of SH/SA has within a unit.
“See Something Say Something!”
The grayed Soldiers and Civilians may still be in the Team/SQD/PLT/CO/Command; however, their individual readiness and the readiness of the Command is compromised due to a number of reasons, such as: medical appointments, investigations, counseling, and the emotional effects of lack of trust, Esprit de Corps, respect, etc. These events degrade the unit’s ability to complete its’ operational mission.
The colored box shows the decline of a unit’s readiness from “Green” to “Red.” The incidents inside the “Green” colored box are what right looks like and inside the “Yellow, Orange and Red” boxes are examples of the continuum of harm if these examples are not properly and timely addressed.
The bottom box depicts leader engagements and intervention opportunities are present throughout the continuum. If Soldiers engage and intervene the cycle is broken and a unit can start moving towards the green box and be mission ready.
All Soldiers and Civilians are encouraged to intervene, “See Something Say Something!” I believe Robert D. Shadley, a retired U.S. Army Major General, said it best in his book titled “The Game.” He said, “In my experience, problems with “things” in the military are only minor. The “people” aspects of the organization are where the major problems come from. If you take care of your people — reward the good and correct the bad — the mission will get done, and the Leaders and their organizations will succeed.”
Paula James, 108th SHARP Program Manager/SARC