In uniform or not, teal ribbon meant for all Airmen

by Senior Airman Alexis Siekert
52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs

1/14/2014 - SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE--Germany -- Wearing a teal ribbon may not be compliant with AFI 36-2903--but the spirit behind it is intended for every Airman both in and out of uniform.

To raise awareness among Saber Airmen, the sexual assault response coordinator office incorporated a teal ribbon as part of their marketing campaigns.

Since 2001, the ribbon has been nationally recognized as the symbol for sexual assault awareness. Similar to a pink breast cancer awareness ribbon, SARC's end goal in using the teal one is to build a correlation between the color and sexual assault awareness, said 2nd Lt. Kait Smith, 52nd Fighter Wing deputy SARC.

"Here at Spangdahlem, we use the teal ribbon and logos on all of our promotional items from stress balls to important emergency contact numbers for a quick reference," said 2nd Lt. Katrina Smith, 52nd SARC. "During our briefings and classes, we like to hand out these goodies to increase the awareness of sexual assault."

Future messages sexual assault awareness and prevention will be conveyed with products all capped together with a teal ribbon.

Everyone should work to stop sexual assault, Smith said.

"Sexual assault has no place in our Air Force," said General Mark A. Welsh III, Air Force Chief Of Staff. "We live in a culture of respect. We cherish our core values of integrity, service, and excellence. But in order to ensure all Airmen experience and benefit from those values, we must eliminate sexual assault in our ranks."

For more information or to talk to your local sexual assault response coordinator, call 452-6524.

http://www.nsvrc.org/saam/what-is-saam/symbol-and-color