JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
Five Joint Base San Antonio leaders showed their support for sexual assault survivors and urged active-duty members and government civilians to take action against sexual assault, signing a proclamation for Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month at the Medical Education and Training Campus Student Academic Center at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston April 3.
Signing the proclamation were Brig. Gen. Heather Pringle, 502nd Air Base Wing and JBSA commander; Rear Adm. Rebecca McCormick-Boyle, Navy Medicine Education, Training and Logistics Command commander; Robert Naething, U.S. Army North (Fifth Army) deputy to the commanding general; Lt. Col. Jeffery Buffa, 4th Reconnaissance Battalion commanding officer; and Cmdr. Marc Akus, Coast Guard Cryptologic Unit Texas.
The proclamation ceremony included remarks from Pringle, Naething and McCormick-Boyle and the showing of a video that encouraged JBSA members to be “unafraid” in preventing and reporting sexual assault and standing up for sexual assault survivors.
Pringle said it will take the efforts of all active-duty members and government civilians to prevent and stop sexual assault.
“We need to be focused on this issue each and every day of the year,” Pringle said. “One day, one month is not enough. It takes all of us together to eradicate this crime from our ranks. What’s important is that all of us come together and we fight this crime with one voice until the number of sexual assaults in our military is the number zero. That’s what we’re fighting for.”
Naething said sexual assault goes against the values of the military and is detrimental to both teamwork and mission preparedness.
“Teamwork is the bedrock of the protecting every mission,” Naething said. “Sexual assault is the number one destroyer of teamwork. It not only breaks every value we have, it’s also destroys our military’s ability to accomplish missions.”
He said stopping sexual assaults comes down to not being afraid of speaking up or taking action and for military leaders to set up conditions that make sexual assault in units unacceptable.
A member of the JBSA Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program, or SAPR, spoke at the ceremony about her experiences of being a sexual assault survivor.
Seletha Willis, JBSA SAPR Navy sexual assault response coordinator, said she was sexually abused by her uncle and cousin from ages 6 to 13.
When the rest of the family found out about the abuse, Willis said they made her feel ashamed with her mother beating her and her father stopped talking to her. The whole experience also made her to attempt suicide three times.
Later on, Willis also had to endure a marriage in which her ex-husband was controlling and emotionally abusive to her and she has had a variety of health problems, including bone cancer and fibromyalgia.
Overcoming those hardships, Willis has worked as a sexual assault victim advocate for the Army and earned her college degree. She has been the JBSA SAPR Navy sexual assault response coordinator since 2012.
Willis said her experiences as a sexual assault survivor inspired her to want to work with and help other sexual assault survivors.
“I look back at my journey over the years,” Willis said. “I understand why God has spared my life. I understand my purpose and embrace it. If I hadn’t gone through the childhood trauma, I wouldn’t understand how to empathize with victims during their childhood sexual assault or domestic violence. Most importantly, I know and understand that God wasn’t punishing me. He was strengthening me to be a person someone can lean on when they’re in a weary place.”
Willis said her healing process is still ongoing and that her faith continues to sustain her.
“I have my victory,” she said. “My hope is that my story can help at least one person see there is a light at the end of the darkness.”
McCormick-Boyle, who spoke after Willis, thanked Willis for sharing her story to the JBSA community.
“It’s an incredible story,” McCormick-Boyle said. “Each one of us, we grow from that story. “
During the ceremony, several JBSA members were recognized for their efforts in preventing sexual assault and for helping sexual assault survivors, including the Shelley Botello Compassionate Servant Award, which was given to Petty Officer 1st Class Charmaine JacksonRoss from the Naval Technical Training Center at JBSA-Lackland.
Botello was the clinical supervisor for the Sexual Assault Response/Forensic Team at Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital in San Antonio before passing away two years ago. She provided sexual assault forensic examinations for sexual assault survivors, including military members, and was involved in the JBSA SAPR program, training sexual assault response coordinators and victim advocates.