Army exploring ideas to combat sexual assault crisis
CHARLOTTE, N.C. Sgt. Taylor Knueven always knew sexual assault and harass- ment plagued the U.S. Army. But the combat medic’s own assault early last year opened her eyes to the broken system surrounding one of the military’s most infamous problems.
Last week, Knueven and six other soldiers went before a panel in the 18th Airborne Corps headquarters at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to present ideas on how the Army can revamp the way it deals with sexual assault and harassment.
The Army’s Sexual Harass- ment/Assault Response and Prevention Program, also known as SHARP, has been
the subject of much scrutiny, especially following the slaying of Spc. Vanessa Guillen by a fellow soldier inside a Fort Hood, Texas, armory last April.
The proposal Knueven presented to the panel Monday would address gender and military bias by reworking the composition of offender separation boards. She said her attacker went before a board consisting of three men and no women.
Knueven described in detail events on the night she says she was assaulted by a fellow soldier at a concert. And she recounted how she felt about reporting the incident and what went through her mind when she said she learned he would remain in the Army and ultimately face little punishment.
“I thought it was a total slap in the face to myself,” Knueven said.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at his first Pentagon news conference that reducing sexual assault is one of his top priorities and that he would introduce stronger efforts to fight it.
“We haven’t gotten it right,” he said.
Staff Sgt. Shameka Dudley wants to see stale SHARP training PowerPoints replaced with virtual reality scenarios that would offer soldiers a glimpse at assault and harassment scenarios through the eyes of survivors, aggressors and bystanders.
“We have this same training and it’s not changing much,” Dudley said.
“The numbers are still going up.”