NAS Kingsville Sailors Receive Sexual Assault Prevention and Response-Fleet Training

Feb 12, 2013 (DEFENSE DEPARTMENT DOCUMENTS AND PUBLICATIONS/ContentWorks via COMTEX) -- Story Number: NNS130212-09 Release Date: 2/12/2013 By Jon Gagne, Naval Air Station Kingsville Public Affairs NAVAL AIR STATION KINGSVILLE, Texas (NNS) -- Sailors at Naval Air Station Kingsville received Sexual Assault Prevention and Response-Fleet (SAPR-F) training Feb. 8 as part of the Navy's aggressive efforts to prevent sexual assaults and promote essential culture changes within the force.

To help address the training fleet-wide, 20 SAPR-F Master Mobile Training Teams (MMTTs) were formed and deployed around the globe in mid-December to provide SAPR-F Preparation Training to designated mid-level leadership command training teams in fleet concentration areas and locations with significant Navy presence. I n turn, the installation training teams are delivering the SAPR-F training to E-6 and below personnel, which must be completed at each command by March 31.

"Sexual assault hurts the victim and the command," said NAS Kingsville Command Master Chief Randy Foust. "It can significantly damage a military unit's esprit de corps and cohesion which we leverage to accomplish extraordinary things. Sexual assault is therefore a major readiness issue. It is also a crime. Culture can best be defined as the combined actions of an organization's leadership and members. Our culture must not, and will not, tolerate sexual assault. It's not a uniquely Navy problem, but this will be a uniquely Navy solution," he said.

Lt. Ricardo Cerna, assistant security officer at NAS Kingsville, is the team leader for the air station training team that presents the SAPR-F sessions to enlisted Sailors. He was one of three NAS Kingsville personnel to go through the SAPR-F Preparation Training class held by the mobile SAPR Task Force in mid-January at NAS Corpus Christi.

"I believe the task force training program did a great job of showing the Navy's concerns for sexual assault at the deckplate level," Cerna said. "It was easy to relate to the video training and it appeared to have a plausible scenario. It looked like this situation could really happen in the fleet." Cerna has provided three training sessions so far for enlisted Sailors, accounting for about 80 percent of the command's enlisted force. Other training sessions are planned to ensure 100 percent of NAS Kingsville's Sailors complete the training.

"At first, with the interactive training, the Sailors appeared hesitant to get involved," Cerna said. "But once the video picked-up, the Sailors contributed significantly to the training. The curriculum depends on Sailor's input for success, and I believe these trainings were successful." Sexual assault prevention is an important element of the readiness area of the 21st Century Sailor and Marine initiative, which builds resiliency to hone the most combat-effective force in the history of the Department of the Navy.

"The scenario(s) are realistic and then exaggerated to drive their point home," Foust said. "The theme is 'bystander intervention' and the videos demonstrate some examples of successful bystander intervention and some not so successful.

"These examples provide a good foundation and facilitate an opportunity to discuss the subject of prevention and response to sexual assault. The reason a chief and junior officer are the facilitators is to encourage honest, candid communications.

"Sexual assault awareness is a big issue for the Navy and this training is a good step in the right direction. But the bottom line remains: prevention and awareness rests on Sailors taking care of each other and treating each other with mutual respect." Additional information about the SAPR-F and SAPR-L training efforts can be found at the SAPR L/F training Web pages, including command registration for SAPR-F training. Visit http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/support/sapr/Pages/training.aspx.

For more news about NAS Kingsville visit http://cnic.navy.mil/kingsville.

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