Blatant EO violation or bad judgement? (re: females receiving separate sexual assault & harassment training)

2014-03-12T15:35:31-04:00

EDIT: Just for the record, the division has since changed their policy on this and no longer does this (or they say they don't) because I told the LTC in charge of the EO/SHARP program here that it was wrong. So it's good that leaders listen.

I've seen this in garrison and while deployed through various installations and divisions so it's not just one unit. <div><br></div><div>They (general statement) give an EO brief. You know the standard stuff. Don't discriminate against SEX, religion, race, etc. </div><div><br></div><div>Then they give a SHARP brief. Talk about how males are highly susceptible to sexual assault. Spent 15-20 minutes talking about what an issue it is and how concerning it is that no males or mostly no males come forward due to social stigmas, etc.</div><div><br></div><div>Then later there's a brief by to ONLY females to reinforce the SHARP ideals. Which is good, but why is there another brief given only to females?</div><div><br></div><div>It boils mine and my wife's blood to no end (she's military as well). </div><div><br></div><div>1) if it's not an EO violation in itself, it at the very least is a serious jab at the seriousness of the message that males can be victims as well. Talking out of both sides of the mouth is not a way to encourage males to come forward. On one hand they make a big deal about this issue and then an hour later they single out and only talk to the females about SHARP. Frankly, by the strict definition of the word I've seen more sexual harassment of males by males than males to females. BY FAR. </div><div><br></div><div>2) truthfully it's a violation of EO in my opinion. Females need battle buddies etc and we are going to single out this sex by pulling them aside specifically. In this case they add all NCOs but I've seen it plenty of times where it's JUST females. </div><div><br></div><div>What are your thoughts? Have you seen this before (I know you have)? What did you do about it? Why aren't the BN and bde EO and SHARP reps advising the commander about this?</div><div><br></div><div>As a 1SG I brought this up after people were singled out and I was told that it needed to be emphasized further and because it had been also briefed to the ENTIRE group at one point it wasn't EO etc. </div><div><br></div><div>I bring this up after my wife and I had a conversation about it last night after looking at my inprocessing schedule. </div>

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 12 at 2014 3:41 PM

2014-03-12T15:41:35-04:00

If you ask me they are wrong!!!! Bottom Line!! SHARP is for everyone, not just females!

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 20 at 2014 6:13 PM

2014-03-20T18:13:22-04:00

I fully agree with you. If we are preaching equality then let's truly treat everyone equally.

Response by SSG William Sutter made May 7 at 2014 2:35 AM

2014-05-07T02:35:33-04:00

I really would have to say that if you target any one group for anything, you are basically saying that- that group is the problem or the other group or groups is the problem This really does sound like discrimination. If there is a problem, everyone needs to be briefed about the problem. As far as pulling the females to the side and having a separate briefing to them- It depends on what is being said. I have seen all females in the battalion pulled to the side and talked to about getting pregnant while deployed. It turned out that roughly 75% of our females got pregnant during a deployment to Korea. From what I understand they were told if they choose to get pregnant while deployed just to go back to the states, they will still stay until the absolute latest possible before they would be sent back. I would have to ask my EOA about the separation part. To be on the safe side- REPORT IT. Let the trained investigators find out if there was wrong doing. If there wasn't you learned something. If there was wrong doing then they will learn.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made May 7 at 2014 9:09 AM

2014-05-07T09:09:13-04:00

SFC Jones,

I agree 100%. Every SHARP briefing I've attended focused equally on male and female Soldiers, and I think that's the way it should be.

I wonder if the reason they provide extra training to females in your unit is that they are at higher risk of being assaulted. I've noticed that the Army gives extra resiliency training to those undergoing redeployment and mandate extra medical tests for Soldiers over 40, so maybe this falls along the same lines of risk-management.

Response by MSgt Private RallyPoint Member made May 7 at 2014 2:38 PM

2014-05-07T14:38:36-04:00

I think if they have a separate female, they should have one for the men too.

Response by SFC Lamont Womack made May 10 at 2014 9:36 AM

2014-05-10T09:36:19-04:00

I believe this opens the door for an EO complaint. As an EOA, anytime I hear about separate training I always notify the leadership not to do it. I haven't really seen SHARP training specifically by gender but I have seen SHARP sensing sessions for just females.

I believe these SHARP sensing sessions that only have one gender open the door for an EO complaint. I say this because there will be other issues that will be brought up during these sensing session. This allows a platform for only these Soldiers to have their issues heard. The other gender that does not get a sensing session has issues too but they won't be heard. This indirectly discriminates against them. This has the potential to disrupt good order and discipline in the unit by making one gender appear to be more "important" than the other. I'm not saying a leader can't separate the training but if they do make sure there is a training session for each gender.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 23 at 2014 4:32 AM

2014-06-23T04:32:01-04:00

I understand where you are coming from. In my experience if you have a room full of Soldiers, both male and female, and SHARP training is happening, it gets old real fast since we are doing training so often. I’m not complaining about doing all the training because I find that it is an important issue and it does need to be addressed. It’s how we address it though. Having a room with nothing but females gives them the opportunity to open up and maybe say something’s that they wouldn’t say in front of their male counter parts. I see the EO complaint and its legitimacy. The quick fix to that is having a class just for males. I bet that the class would go differently and both male and female Soldiers would get something different from the training. I would take it a step further and separate the training into two sessions. The first session would be with males and females in different rooms, so that they can bring up the issues that they won’t discuss in front of their counterparts. Then the second session, bring them all together and identify those issues in an open forum.

Response by PV2 Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 10 at 2014 4:22 PM

2014-12-10T16:22:42-05:00

I fully agree. This needs to be for EVERYONE and treat everyone equally.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 8 at 2015 10:57 PM

2015-08-08T22:57:48-04:00

Coming from someone who is EO AND SHARRP -- Holy cow, this SOO bad. Yeah that TOTALLY violates EO. While they may not have MEANT to it may have been meant to be a way to put them at ease, it was reverse discrimination for sure.
As far as the question of have I seen it before that is a HUGE negative, mostly because I taught it, was always in an all male environment. If I HAD seen it though I WOULD have said something about it, because this is a sure way to get an EO complaint. Someone that did not feel discriminated against but just had an axe to grind or honestly just wanted to be a smart ass, definitely had grounds here, once BDE or DIV EOA is on it, then whoever is in charge of it, gets hemmed up. Terrible call.