Acting Secretary of the Army Patrick Murphy recognizes Sgt. 1st Class Raquel R. Mendoza, 4th Sustainment Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, as the Sexual Assault Response Coordinator of the Year at a Pentagon ceremony March 31, 2016. (Photo by Gary Sheftick)
By Scott Prater
Mountaineer staff
Fort Carson’s Sgt. 1st Class Raquel R. Mendoza is the top sexual assault response coordinator (SARC) in the Army.
Mendoza traveled to Washington, D.C., to accept the SARC of the Year award March 31, 2016, from Acting Secretary of the Army Patrick Murphy during a ceremony in the courtyard at the Pentagon.
“I had been to the Pentagon before, but just the outside,” she said. “When you look at how many SARCs there are in the Army and how many great things people are doing, to be the person who is picked out of everyone is definitely surprising.”
Mendoza spent the first 13 years of her Army career in the food service field. She climbed through the ranks to the point where she was managing a dining facility. Though she enjoyed her career, she felt she needed a change.
Then she happened upon Command Sgt. Maj. Jacinto Garza, 4th Sustainment Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, a little more than three years ago. That’s when she mentioned the idea of changing career fields.
After a brief sit-down, Garza thought Mendoza might be perfect to fill an open SARC position at the brigade.
It didn’t take long for Mendoza to blaze a trail of success.
“I focused on the at-risk group of people, those between the ages of 18-24, who are most likely to be victims of sexual assault,” she said. “I knew I had to follow popular trends, social media and technology, and, above all, find a way to communicate and learn from these young Soldiers.”
While attending quarterly brigade discussions, she convinced young Soldiers to fill her in on the newest, hippest trends, and soon learned that this group often communicates in coded language.
Based on the knowledge gained from being in touch with the younger crowd, Mendoza began creating new and innovative SARC-centered presentations and programs. It was a new experience for her. One that came with quite a bit of fear and trepidation.
She started her role at 4th SB with plenty of compassion and empathy, but no training or experience in public speaking.
Nowadays, people said she’s a natural behind the microphone.
“I still get nervous,” admits the mother of four. “It feels like my voice cracks and shakes, but everyone tells me they don’t notice it. I have slides that I use to keep the presentation organized, but I also like to get a feel for how a crowd is reacting, then I adjust as I go. It helps to really know the material. If I ever get off track I can just transition back (to my knowledge base), and as far as I can tell it’s fairly seamless.”
Mendoza doesn’t prepare her presentations beforehand, doesn’t carry notes and refuses to stick to a standard strategy while speaking to groups.
“Authenticity is important to me,” she said. “You have to be authentic, otherwise the presentation gets boring. And, it’s easy for people to tune out when they sense that what they’re hearing is the same old (spiel).”
Based on her fresh approach to training Soldiers, she earned the SARC of the Year award for 2015 at the brigade level. Then she won at the U.S. Army Forces Command level, and finally got the ultimate surprise earlier this year when she found out she had earned the SARC of the Year award at the Army level.
As word has spread about Mendoza’s skills at creating and presenting innovative, unique and engaging SARC training, she’s been asked to present more often, and to different groups. She presented her newest training program recently to ROTC students at Colorado State University Pueblo and will present again during junior NCO SHARP training in recognition of national Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month April 29, 2016, at McMahon Auditorium.
“She was and is the right person at the right time for this position,” Garza said. “She shared a few of her ideas in that initial meeting and they caught my attention.
“She is a leader who enjoys taking care of Soldiers and has shared some of her own harsh experiences with regards to sexual assault and sexual harassment with service members to better prepare them for the possibilities of being placed in those situations. She is an engaged SARC, always at the point of need and dedicated to doing everything within her power to stop this cancer in our profession, which goes along with the sergeant major of the Army’s initiative of ‘Not in my squad, not in our Army,’” he said.