{"id":143356,"date":"2024-04-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=143356"},"modified":"2024-04-05T01:52:56","modified_gmt":"2024-04-05T01:52:56","slug":"national-guard-continues-work-to-eradicate-sexual-assault-harassment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=143356","title":{"rendered":"National Guard continues work to eradicate sexual assault, harassment"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Giselle Wilz, director of staff with the National Guard Bureau, signs the 2024 National Guard Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month proclamation as Chief Master Sgt. Kelly Hoffses, the senior enlisted advisor to the director of staff, looks on during a ceremony at the Herbert R. Temple Army National Guard Readiness Center, Arlington Hall Station, in Arlington, Virginia, April 1, 2024. The proclamation marks the Guard’s continuing commitment to accountability, working to end sexual assault and harassment, and providing care and support to victims.
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ARLINGTON, Va. \u2014 The National Guard continues to take action to prevent sexual assault and harassment within its ranks, provide victim care and support, and foster a culture to eradicate sexual assault and sexual harassment, said senior Guard leaders during an event marking the start of Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not just a leader responsibility,\u201d said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Giselle Wilz, director of staff with the National Guard Bureau, during the event. \u201cIt\u2019s a battle buddy responsibility. It\u2019s a team responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Held at the Herbert R. Temple Army National Guard Readiness Center, Arlington Hall Station, in Arlington, Virginia, the event saw Wilz and Chief Master Sgt. Kelly Hoffses, the senior enlisted advisor to the director of staff, sign the 2024 National Guard Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month Proclamation and announce the month\u2019s theme and focus of \u201cforging forward with change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough this is a 24\/7, year-round event, today, and throughout the month of April, we are bringing attention to and focusing on creating an appropriate culture to eliminate sexual assault in our community, the profession of arms,\u201d said Wilz, adding that continual, though slow, progress has been made.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter 40 years in uniform, I\u2019d love to be able to get up here and say we have eradicated sexual assault from our profession,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have not. We are improving. Not at the speed I would like, but we are improving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though continued work is needed, the Guard has also seen lower instances of sexual assault than other military services or components, said Stephanie Fors, the Air National Guard sexual assault prevention and response program manager.<\/p>\n

Part of that is the culture of the Guard, she said, noting leadership involvement and prioritizing sexual assault prevention and response efforts. That includes standing up a sexual assault prevention task force to examine its response efforts and make needed changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe National Guard has leaders who care,\u201d she said. \u201cThey are able to reach out across the table and let their Airmen and Soldiers know they matter, how they feel matters, that if you come to me, I\u2019m going to believe you and I\u2019m going to make sure you have the resources and referrals that you need.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the event, Wilz said she could see that difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s how I know there\u2019s a difference. Eight or nine years ago this room would have been full of just women. Today, the majority of folks in this room are caring leaders, male leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s part of being \u201cNational Guard strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something beautiful about being National Guard strong,\u201d said Fors. \u201cIt\u2019s what makes us and it\u2019s what cultivates us, and [is] a beautiful blueprint of what being proactive, empathetic Guardsmen looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those are all elements that tie to focus of Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month, and the aim or eradicating sexual assault and harassment.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s why we chose this year\u2019s theme of forging forward with change, because if National Guard has proven anything, it\u2019s we lead the way.<\/p>\n

DOD Safe Helpline<\/a><\/p>\n

The National Guard Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR) website <\/a><\/p>\n

The Special Victims Counsel Program website<\/a><\/p>\n

Official Website of the National Guard<\/a><\/p>\n

The National Guard on Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n

The National Guard on X (Formerly Twitter)<\/a><\/p>\n

The National Guard on Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Giselle Wilz, director of staff with the National Guard Bureau, signs the 2024 National Guard Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month proclamation as Chief Master Sgt. Kelly Hoffses, the senior enlisted advisor to the director of staff, looks on during a ceremony at the Herbert R. Temple Army National Guard Readiness […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143358,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-143356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=143356"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":143359,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143356\/revisions\/143359"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/143358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=143356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=143356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=143356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}