Lawrence Sailors Spread Awareness

U.S. 5TH FLEET AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (NNS) -- Sailors aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence (DDG 110) placed numbers on their chests to represent a sexual assault victim in an effort to raise awareness in support of Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month (SAAPM), April 20-21.

The ship's sexual Assault Prevention and Response team recruited volunteers to wear a badge with a number proportional to the number of Sailors who will be assaulted during their career, according to statistics provided by the Department of Defense.

"One in three females and one in five males will be sexually assaulted," said Fire Controlman 1st Class Virginia Hansen, one of William P. Lawrence's victim advocates. "We wanted to create a visual representation of the toll sexual assault can have."

Sixteen female sailors and 46 males aboard Lawrence wore badges and white undershirts to obtain more attention. When Sailors were stopped in the passageway and asked why they were wearing a white shirt, they explained statistics and facts about sexual assault.

"It is startling to see how many victims we could have on our own ship," said Cmdr. Jana A. Vavasseur, William P. Lawrence's commanding officer. "This was an effective way to bring the problem closer to home."
This year the Navy's SAAM theme is "courage" which supports the Department of Defense's theme of "We own it...we'll solve it...together." The goal is to empower commands to take ownership of this problem.

By putting a face to sexual assault, Hansen said she hopes it will make Sailors more willing to be to be an active bystander and work toward prevention.

William P. Lawrence is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility promoting maritime security operations, theater security cooperation efforts and support missions for Operation Enduring Freedom.

"Sexual Assault Prevention and Response is an important element of the readiness area of the 21st Century Sailor and Marine initiative which consolidates a set of objectives and policies, new and existing, to maximize Sailor and Marine personal readiness, build resiliency and hone the most combat-effective force in the history of the Navy and Marine Corps. The Department of the Navy is working to aggressively to prevent sexual assaults, to support sexual assault victims, and to hold offenders accountable.

"Help raise awareness by joining the conversation on social media using #SexualAssault and #SAAPM."


For more news from USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), visit www.navy.mil/local/cvn69/.