Wright-Patt Airmen group confronts sexual assault within Air Force

Published May 24, 2013
By Brian Brackens
88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- Leading a new charge to confront serious issues facing military members throughout the Air Force is a group of Airmen with the Air Force Junior Support, an organization recently formed here.

AFJS was founded by a group of enlisted Airmen to address important issues such as substance use and abuse, suicide, depression and sexual assault in a more compelling way.

Due to the nearly 800 reports of sexual assaults throughout the Air Force in the past year, the group has primarily focused on finding new ways to communicate and raise awareness about this issue among the junior enlisted force.

AFJS Co-President Senior Airman Jhosselin Alonzo, an aerospace medical technician with the 88th Air Base Wing Medical Operations Squadron, said traditional methods of sharing information and raising awareness -- such as PowerPoint briefings and lectures -- aren't the best ways to capture and maintain her peer group's attention.

"My generation is different," said Alonzo. "We have the attention span of only eight minutes at a time, which is about the time a TV show runs before commercial breaks. If you don't get our attention right away, we will stop listening."

Capturing the attention of junior enlisted members is what led the group to partner with student actors from a local community college to perform a play that addressed sexual assault.

Not only did the play showcase the talent and skills of the performing Airmen, it presented a serious topic in a manner that educated and kept the audience engaged.

"During the play, our Airmen were totally interested and engaged in the information being shared, and they got the message," said Alonzo. "You are never going to get that level of attention during a PowerPoint presentation."

Senior Airman Ricky Ware, a broadcast journalist with the 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs office and co-president of AFJS, said that analyzing appropriate communication tools and applying them are keys to delivering effective messages to the junior enlisted force.

"We use a lot of social media and informal networking to get out information," said Ware. "We also have really great events with hard-hitting, straight to the point, amazing messages that are very clearly delivered to every single person in attendance."

Ware said that one of the keys to preventing sexual assaults is to talk about it.

"It's still taboo to talk about sexual assault. It's still awkward, and that's what our group is trying to break down. The more we talk about it, the more we get it out there, the more conversational we can make it, and the less it will happen."

Alonzo hopes the organization's ideas and programs will spread with the establishment of similar junior force groups.

"The message I would give to others trying to start a group like ours is to show love, it's as simple as that," she said. "If you're sitting next to an Airman that you've never spoken to, turn around and say 'hello.' You don't want people around you suffering; we have to take care of each other."