An official website of the United States government
Here's how you know
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

ARC program helps deployed service members

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Jerome Baysmore
  • 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyzstan --  Air Force Sexual Assault Response Coordinators have stressed education and awareness about sexual assault during April--Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

"Primarily I am here to coordinate and ensure victim care and safety," said 2nd Lt. Stephanie Lutz, 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Sexual Assault Response Coordinator. "The SARC is the focal point for making sure victims have a victim advocate who provides one-on-one interpersonal support and for enabling the victim to be aware of what options are available to them.

"This job is important in the deployed environment because sexual assaults and rapes still occur even in the area of responsibility," said Lieutenant Lutz, deployed here from Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. "It is critical to provide support and assistance to victims anytime, anywhere, so they can move toward becoming a survivor and not feeling like a victim forever."

Special circumstances exist in a deployed environment, Lieutenant Lutz added, that can greatly increase the stressors for a victim and thereby hinder their recovery process.

"For instance, it is stressful for individuals to be away from their family and friends, even more so if they are present in a combat zone with a higher threat level," she said. "We are a very small base with little freedom to separate individuals, and our resources are limited. If sexual assault happens in the AOR, it is crucial that we provide support."

To help provide that support, she also has trained 26 victim advocates to help raise Airmen's awareness at Manas Air Base and across the Air Force.

"Training victim advocates is part of the SARC's job and responsibilities," she said. "There are many people here who want or wanted to become trained but have not yet had the opportunity. We are not just training victim advocates for Manas; we train VAs for the rest of their duration in the Air Force.

"Once trained, they receive a Special Experience Identifier that codes them as a victim advocate, and they can perform VA duties at any base - home station or deployed.

"Once trained," she continued, "the VAs can continue to serve as a VA--no matter their location--as long as they desire."

Once such person is Capt. Brian Russell, 376th AEW, who's been volunteering as VA since September 2007.

"I think the program is extremely important to the AF because it helps the victim know that someone cares," he said. "This helps them find support to come forward with their story and gives them a sympathetic ear to vent their frustrations and fears.

"The program is helping to educate people and to change the cultural perception that it's OK to continue with sexual advances when one partner says no and get away with it. By doing this, the program is helping the Air Force rid itself of people who clearly are failing to live up to the core values and restores trust in our wingmen."

"It is also telling people that men are sexually assaulted too," he added. "The program is vital in breaking down stigmas. Captain Russell added that volunteering for the program also helps him.

"I decided to become involved for several reasons--I was a victim when I was a teenager," he said. "I lived with the shame and guilt over never reporting what happened to me and this is a means of helping any potential victims made by the person who assaulted me.

"In college, most of my friends turned out to be people who had been abused, and I felt a great deal of satisfaction and joy in helping them get over what happened to them."