SHARP
Leadership
Sensing sessions are an important tool leaders use to stay informed of what is important to soldiers. Recently,
several sensing sessions were conducted throughout the Battle Group. In these sessions, a discussion point was
made about the “paranoia” of working with females.
When you couple a unit comprised mostly of male soldiers and the recent push for SHARP training, it becomes
all too easy for paranoia to spread. Comments such as “we want to remove the risk all together and just avoid
them if at all possible” re?ects a soldier’s reluctance to interact with female soldiers.
This mindset can be detrimental to our ranks.
Imagine if leaders were to exclude females from performing tasks or if they were denied job opportunities because there was fear that working with them could lead to a SHARP complaint. In essence, this is comparable to
victimizing that female.
When the rumor-mill spreads that a female soldier may have been sexually assaulted, there is sometimes the tendency to group all female soldiers as potential victims. The stigma that all female soldiers are possible victims
potentially cuts that soldier’s career opportunities.
It’s every leader’s responsibility to squash rumors when they are heard. Education is a powerful tool. It’s important that soldiers understand the reported statistics and letting soldiers know that false reporting isn’t an issue
within your organization. Although it does happen, an investigation can prove the validity of a report.
Soldiers commonly believe that investigations are career enders. When an investigation is initiated soldiers are
?agged. Being ?agged for an investigation does not mean you are guilty; it is a regulatory administrative process and if you are found innocent there will be no further action. Leaders at all levels have the responsibilit ??)?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????)Q??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????)??????????????????????????????????????????????)59 ??Y???????????M!I@?M?????????(???1????????????
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