SARC Challenge completes Sexual Assault Awareness Month

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Laura R. McFarlane
  • 17th Training Wing Public Affairs
GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Twenty-one teams competed in the 4th Annual Sexual Assault Response Coordinator Challenge promoting awareness of Sexual Assault Awareness Month here April 26.

The Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office hosted several events during the month to raise public awareness about sexual violence and to educate communities and individuals on sexual violence prevention.

Chief Master Sgt. Thomas F. Good, 17th Training Wing Command Chief, talked about how the challenge is more than just an event.

"It allows us the opportunity as Total Force Airmen, that's also Sailors, Soldiers, Marines and family members to take a moment to help a teammate," said Good. "Remember--it's not an event today. This gives us the opportunity to change someone's view, change someone's life. That's the most important thing we do today."

The challenge consisted of 15 stations. Each station involved an activity each team had to complete before receiving a clue that the team solved in order to discover the location of the next station. Each team then raced to the next station. A couple of the stations included pitching a tent and having to roll a strike in the bowling alley. If a team was unable or unwilling to complete a task, they could take a five minute penalty.

This was Senior Master Sgt. James T. Baxley's, 17th Medical Group first sergeant, third time competing in the challenge and his first time teaming up with Senior Master Sgt. Tarah Baxley, 17th Force Support Squadron Airman Leadership School commandant.

Baxley said his goal was "to finish first and see if Tarah and I could work together without killing each other."

The ALS commandant had a similar goal of working with him.

"Both of us have a strong personality," she added. "So we knew this was going to be a challenge for us from the very beginning."

Both agreed the hacky sack challenge was their least favorite.

"My least favorite station was the hacky sack challenge because it was extremely difficult to get five consecutive tosses between partners," she said. "We contemplated taking the five-minute penalty, but we eventually got it."

This was her second year competing in the challenge.

"The SAPR office did a great job putting this event together, and it keeps getting better every year," added Tarah Baxley.

With a strong finish at the end, the team reached their goal and came in first.

The SAPR Office also hosted the Clothesline Project during April.

The Clothesline Project is constructed of t-shirts decorated by sexual assault survivors or family members of survivors that tell their stories. The shirts were placed on a traveling clothesline and displayed at the Western Winds Dining Facility April 20. Pink shirts represented women or female family members and the blue represented men or male family members who survived a sexual assault.