And because today was all about ensuring the well-being of female soldiers, acting Chief of Staff, Lieutenant Col. Jermaine Burns, made a point of encouraging and empowering his soldiers to use the proper channels to report sexual harassment and abuse.
He says that the BDF can't do anything about these issues if they aren't aware that they're happening.
Lieutenant Col. Jermaine Burns, Acting Chief Of Staff, B.D.F
"This is the reason why we have things like these, today's event was to push the women forward, to give them that encouragement, to show them that we appreciate them, this very first women's Day here. It's the very first time we've done something so significant and we brought in the speakers to try and encourage them that you must not stay silent. A lot of the females that I have interviewed or have just tapped my office door came and said Sir but we don't want to get anyone in trouble or we don't want to say it oo much and I tried to encourage them, if you don't say or you don't write a report about it then we can't do anything about it. We are not saying that you should make something up but at the end of the day if you know that something happend to you bring in the report so that we can sort it out and empowerment is one of the biggest issues. The confidence that these women have in thier leadership to say we will get something done and I think we are working on that day by day with our two senior majors, Dr. Linda Guerra and major Aspinal to try and help us with encouraging the women to say you have a voice, you have more than a voice, you have the authority behind you that will support you and push you through the ranks o make sure that whatever abuses you may suffer here we are going to sort it out."
For his part, Brigadier General Azariel Loria agreed, telling 7 News today that working for greater equity among female soldiers is quote: "a work in progress"
