KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- The Sexual Assault Response Coordinator from the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing on Bagram Airfield established the first Victim's Advocate Program here on Kandahar Airfield and in Regional Command-South for the U.S. Air Force.
Captain Tabitha Stump, the only Air Force SARC in Afghanistan is on a journey to establish awareness and response programs at each major installation for victims of sexual assault. She visited KAF from Oct. 18 through 24 to conduct training for those who wished to be a voice for victims.
Fifteen victim advocates have been trained on KAF and two volunteered as they had already received training from home stations.
"Beginning Nov. 1, we will have one victim advocate on duty each week for Kandahar/RC-South," Captain Stump aid . "Right now, due to manning, we don't have a SARC who can go to every location, but if we can have a victim advocate at each location who can take restricted reports and filter them to the SARC, we can make sure that our victims are being well taken care of."
Victim advocates have the duty of responding to sexual assault victims and making referrals for the help they need, whether it be assisting them with going through a medical exam, seeing the chaplaincy, interacting with law enforcement officials, or going through the judicial process. If needed, they are the emotional support for the victim.
"Often we find the victim just becomes a case number and they don't have anyone to speak for them or to speak on their behalf or to take care of them emotionally," said Captain Stump. "A victim advocate is going to be the person who will be assigned to the victim and will work with them through their case, whether they go restricted or unrestricted. It's the wingman concept. It's someone who will check on them to make sure that they are flying right."
There is no knowledge of whether or not there have been issues with sexual assault on KAF as there has never been a response program. However, Captain Stump said there was an average of 12 reports within the month of September for Regional Command-East. That month's reports made up one-third of the reports she'd received for the entire year. There is evidence that sexual assault is or has been occurring throughout the country, but until now, there had been no mechanism for victims to report these incidents in a confidential manner.
"And that's our primary objective," Captain Stump said.
Sexual assault victim advocates were trained on things such as the psychology of what a victim goes through and sex offender dynamics. They received briefings from the chaplain, briefings from a medical person who spoke of combat stress and the collection of forensic evidence, training on Air Force policy, and training on the history of the sexual assault response program.
"We want people to know that we have a service available for them and it doesn't matter when the assault occurred, who was the perpetrator of the assault, or what the conditions behind the assault were," said Captain Stump. "If they were assaulted or felt violated sexually, they are more than welcome to use our services. We want them to get that help because, again, being fit to fight is not just about being able to do sit-ups and pushups; it's about being able to keep your head in the game. And in this environment, we can't have people distracted emotionally."
There will be another two-day victim's advocate class during the second week of January 2010 for anyone who may be interested in becoming a contingency advocate. Those who may have already received the training prior to deployment are also welcome and needed.
For more information, contact Captain Stump at DSN 431-4060 or Tech. Sgt. Kenneethia Kennard, 451st Air Expeditionary Wing Equal Opportunity, at DSN 420-2265.