Command chief: combating sexual assault takes team effort

  • Published
  • By Chief Master Sgt. Matt Proietti
  • Air Force Public Affairs Agency
WARNER ROBINS, Ga. --  Eight weeks into his new job, the Air Force Reserve Command's top enlisted leader said combating sexual assault is his top priority and challenged Airmen to serve with integrity.

"I am asking you to be a wingman," Chief Master Sgt. Cameron B. Kirksey told 240 enlisted Airmen during a meeting Aug. 22 at the Museum Of Aviation adjacent to Robins Air Force Base. "Can we prevent it? Stop it? It affects good order and discipline."

The AFRC command chief echoed recent statements from leaders in Washington, D.C., indicating a united front to combat sexual assault in the military. In June, the Air Force appointed Maj. Gen. Margaret H. Woodward as director of its reorganized Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program, which develops policies and programs that address the service's sexual assault prevention, education, accountability, victim assistance and assessment efforts.

Kirksey said diminishing sexual assault is a top priority for Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III and Lt. Gen. James F. Jackson, chief of the Air Force Reserve and commander of Air Force Reserve Command.

"How do we stamp it out? Wait for a message from headquarters?" Kirksey asked. "The magic happens in this room, with the enlisted force, the NCO. Where do we start? Respect. We'll get the job done because we're people with pride, loyalty, honor and respect."

Kirksey, formerly command chief of reserve wings in Florida and Alabama, said he doesn't have all of the answers and stressed that movements "start with the actions of one person (and) it doesn't have to be me."

Leaders agree that diminishing sexual assault in the military requires united action.

"This isn't an issue that just affects the very small percentage of perpetrators or victims within our ranks," said Woodward, the sexual assault program director. "It affects us all, and we are all part of the solution. We all must help the Air Force reinforce a culture of dignity and respect, and create an environment that isolates perpetrators and removes them from our ranks."

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced Aug. 15 seven new initiatives to strengthen and standardize the department's sexual assault prevention and response effort.

Welsh, the Air Force chief of staff, said preventing sexual assault is every Airman's responsibility.

"Every Airman is either part of the solution or part of the problem," he said. "There is no middle ground."

Kirksey, who became the command's top chief in mid-June, thanked Airmen for attending his first enlisted call and for serving in the military, encouraging them to be optimistic as they don the Air Force uniform.

"Less than 1 percent of the population (does) what we do," he said. "When I suit from the boot up, it's game time. Every day."

Chief Proietti, an individual mobilization augmentee with the Air Force Public Affairs Agency Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, is on temporary assignment with the Air Force Reserve Command Yellow Ribbon Office, Robins AFB, Ga.