San Diego Sailors Attend Personal Readiness Summit

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jason Behnke, Navy Public Affairs Support Element West

SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- A series of subject matter experts provided San Diego-area Sailors with current information on a variety of Navy issues during a personal readiness summit Aug. 8-9.

"The goal is to provide Sailors and leadership the opportunity to hear from different people and build their awareness," said Navy Region Southwest Command Master Chief Nancy Hollingsworth. "To create that culture of training and awareness on the topics of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program (SAPR), the Drug and Alcohol Abuse Program and the Physical Readiness Program."

Naval Base Coronado hosted the first day of the summit, and the second day was a repeat held on Naval Base San Diego. The purpose of holding the summit over two days was to ensure the opportunity for maximum participation from command personnel.

The morning was dedicated to the topic of sexual assault in the military. Anne Munch, an attorney and key figure in the development of the Navy's SAPR program, gave the audience some often startling and eye-opening facts regarding sexual assault in the services.

"I think it opened quite a few eyes as to what constitutes sexual assault," said Jeannette Casillas, Sexual Assault Response Coordinator (SARC) at the Naval Base Coronado Fleet and Family Support Center. "I hope they are ready to go back to their commands and talk about it and set a command climate of zero tolerance with respect to sexual assault."

The afternoon was dedicated to informing key command personnel of changes in the Physical Readiness Program and the Drug and Alcohol Abuse Program.

"I think you're going to see a lot more of these workshops in different areas of the Navy," said Hollingsworth. "This workshop is not the single answer to addressing these issues, but it is a resource and hopefully people take the information back to their commands and inform their Sailors."