The purpose of this paper is to assess the DOD strategy (2013 Department of Defense Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR) Strategic Plan”) regarding sexual assault in the Armed Forces.
2. Key Points
a. How effective has the strategy been? Which ones are the unsolved problems?
b. Measures to mitigate the problem:
(1) Leadership
(2) Culture
(3) Enhance prevention programs.
c. The DOD challenges to face in the short term.
3. Discussion a. Cases of sexual assault and sexual harassment have been happening in every service, at all levels, in different kind of units, and affect both women and men, and the image of the military forces.
b. According to the latest report, the strategy has had favorable results. However, several aspects need to be improved in order to make the strategy more effective and …show more content…
They must create an environment of sensitivity and trust to encourage victims to report cases of sexual misconduct. Likewise, their personal accountability is essential to avoid cases of retaliation against victims and to give the necessary support to the victims and families. (2) Military culture is necessary to build, to maintain, and to foster an environment against sexual assault. The military culture characterized by machismo is a challenge for the effective implementation of a program to prevent sexual assault. For that reason, it is necessary to link leadership with culture change at all levels and to educate all members of the armed forces.
(3) Prevention is the most important line of effort of the strategy. It is mandatory to consider training and education at all levels of the military hierarchy to disrupt sexual violence to create unity of effort of the whole organization. Because numerous cases of sexual assault include junior enlisted ranks, education in military academies, universities and colleges is fundamental for both cadets and non-commissioned