Sgt. 1st Class Raquel Mendoza, sexual assault response coordinator, 4th Sustainment Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, leads attendees through a presentation during the Junior NCO Sexual Assault Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention training event at McMahon Auditorium June 2, 2016. (Photo by Scott Prater)
By Scott Prater
Mountaineer staff
When Sgt. 1st Class Raquel Mendoza accepted an award as the Army’s Sexual Assault Response Coordinator of the Year March 31, 2016, top Army officials raved about the innovative training she designed and led for various groups in the Colorado Springs area.
On June 1, 2016, at the McMahon Auditorium, Fort Carson junior NCOs got a chance to see, firsthand, what all the fuss was about.
The sexual assault response coordinator with the 4th Sustainment Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, spent the better part of two hours taking attendees of the Junior NCO Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention (SHARP) training session through myriad subjects and scenarios.
While most SHARP training sessions cover the statistics, effects and other facts and figures regarding sexual assault in the military, they generally do so in a format that often puts attendees to sleep. But, Mendoza manages to relay this type of information in an engaging, reflective and powerful way.
“When I first saw the uncut version of this presentation, I questioned the harsh language,” said 4th SB Command Sgt. Maj. Jacinto Garza. “Then I realized that the uncut version really connects with the audience. Censoring the language would be less effective at getting the message across.”
Mendoza, who downplays her speaking style as merely genuine, strives to connect intellectually with Soldiers ages 18 to 24 because they are the most at risk for becoming victims of sexual assault.
“I developed the concept (for this training) after talking with young Soldiers and asking them what they see and they communicate,” she said.
What she found was that social media and technology play a large role in how people communicate these days. Though websites, cell phones and other devices do a great job of displaying information, they also serve to create networks where information is passed along in code. Taken literally, this code may seem harmless, but it’s the hidden meaning that can often dupe potential victims into unwittingly consenting to sexual situations.
Mendoza covered lists of coded language, text message emoticons and emojis and other statements that serve this exact purpose. Many in the audience said they knew the meaning of these coded messages, whiles others were shocked to learn the code’s true intentions.
Later in the presentation, Soldiers who volunteered as actors for the event, role-played through scenarios that showed how seemingly innocent interactions can quickly turn into dangerous situations.
Though the event was billed as training for junior NCOs, it was extremely relevant for senior leaders.
Following Mendoza’s second lesson, the actors took to the stage to show how the reporting process can flow for some victims. In one skit, a victim tells a friend that she was sexually assaulted the night before, only to be rebuffed by the friend.
“This is what not to do,” Mendoza told the audience. Then she coached them through the best way a friend should respond.
This scene flowed right into another, where the role-players acted out an unofficial sexual assault reporting scenario involving a simulated victim and her chain of command. In that scenario, the victim’s company-level leader ignored the report because an investigation could damage the reputation of the accused assaulter.
Mendoza then relayed a personal story about how she was sexually assaulted while on a deployment several years ago and the negative reactions she endured following her report of the incident.
“This is eye-opening training,” Garza said following the event. “It helps people understand that the problem of sexual assault is easy to ignore if you didn’t witness the act.”
Mendoza said a Pentagon representative attended the event because the Army wants to potentially incorporate this specific type of training into basic training curricula.
“We’ve also been presenting to high school and college groups,” she said. “We want people to know that there are consequences to sexual harassment and assault and that it’s not acceptable behavior.”