USS Emory S. Land Sailors 'Stamp Out' Sexual Assault

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jared Aldape, USS Emory S. Land Public Affairs

USS EMORY S. LAND, At Sea (NNS) -- Submarine tender USS Emory S. Land (AS 39) upheld the effort to take a stand against sexual assault by conducting a training session entitled "Stamp Out Sexual Assault" in the ship's training classroom Dec. 8.

The fleet-wide initiative is part of the Sexual Assault Prevention Response (SAPR) continuum and began with opening remarks from Land's Commanding Officer Capt. Glenn W. Pendrick on the importance of the training, and each crew member's role in prevention.

"Our core values and ethos do not coincide with any crimes, much less sexual assault. It is a crime, damaging to war fighting readiness, and violates the trust that we have in each other," said Pendrick.

Service members watched a video depiction of a scenario where many contributing factors eventually led to a sexual assault. "The video is a powerful training aide that allows Sailors to gain a deeper understanding of just how powerful a role they can play in prevention," said Chief Logistics Specialist Desma Bishun, a SAPR representative onboard Land and facilitator of the course. "This is stopping and addressing the issue before the crime occurs, this is recognizing the behaviors and actions that can develop into something severe."

After the video concluded and the training progressed, Sailors were able to interact with the facilitators in an open discussion while scrutinizing key factors of the scenario that lead to assault.

As the conversation continued, service members offered input and advice on how they would react if they were in the scenario, and gave contrast and comparison of the depicted command to how strong the climate is onboard Land. "There was no single act that was wrong, there were many," said Bishun, "However, even allowing the smallest of acts to go unresolved can impede prevention as a whole."

During the course of the training it became clear that Sailors have the opportunity to identify certain behaviors that can lead to destructive decisions.

"The resounding theme of this training is shipmate intervention," said Pendrick. "The more we get to know our role as bystanders and understand how to react in these adverse situations, the more comfortable Sailors will be in intervening and preventing these crimes from happening."

SAPR Fleet is a critical tool in the Navy's continuing effort to eradicate sexual assault within the Department of the Navy.

Land, homeported in Diego Garcia, is a forward deployed expeditionary submarine tender on an extended deployment conducting coordinated tending moorings and afloat maintenance in the U.S. 7th Fleet Area of Operations.