By Douglas Mallary, NMNG Public Affairs
SANTA FE, N.M. – New Mexico National Guard personnel hosted several events to observe Denim Day and Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.
Regional Training Institute staff hosted a one mile walk April 26 to commemorate Denim Day. They invited participants to donate canned food, clothing, and hygiene items for survivors of sexual assault.
Approximately two dozen people turned out for the walk on Bataan Boulevard.
RTI Command Sgt. Maj. Christopher Pacheco welcomed the group and thanked them for coming. He then turned them over to Staff Sgt. Isidoro Martinez, the RTI’s Victim Advocate.
Martinez read the following passage to explain Denim Day.
“Denim Day takes place on the last Wednesday of April, which is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. This day of action and awareness is an event in which people are encouraged to wear denim to combat victim blaming and educate others about sexual violence. The campaign began after a ruling by the Italian Supreme Court where a rape conviction was overturned because the justices felt that since the victim was wearing tight jeans, she must have helped the person who raped her remove her jeans, thereby implying consent. The following day, the women in the Italian Parliament came to work wearing jeans in solidarity with the victim. Peace Over Violence developed the Denim Day campaign in response to this case and the activism surrounding it. Since then, what started as a local campaign to bring awareness to victim blaming and destructive myths that surround sexual violence has grown into a movement. As the longest running sexual violence prevention and education campaign in history, Denim Day asks community members, elected officials, businesses, and students to make a social statement with their fashion statement by wearing jeans on this day as a visible means of protest against the misconceptions that surround sexual violence. There is no excuse and never an invitation to rape.”
After the walk, participants signed a Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention (SHARP) banner inside the RTI to show support for survivors and a commitment to ending sexual assault in our ranks. RTI staff then treated the group to burgers and hotdogs.
Later that day, Soldiers of the 93rd Troop Command hosted a Fitness Challenge at the parade field here.
Sgt. 1st Class Jonathan Alexander, the Readiness/Training Noncommissioned Officer for Troop Command’s Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment and the 200th Public Affairs Detachment, was the NCO in charge of the event. He ran the course with each competitor, calling out distance, repetitions, and time.
The course began with a 200-meter row. Competitors then sprinted downfield and had the choice of doing box jumps or a tire flip. Most chose the tire flip and received 15 seconds taken off their elapsed time for each flip with a maximum of two flips.
Competitors displayed their agility with side laterals and hurdles before completing 15 rope flips. They then dragged a 90-pound sled, performed 15 hand release pushups, and sprinted to the finish line.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Joey Renteria took first place with a time of one minute and 42 seconds. 1st Sgt. Cesar Urrutia took second place with a time of 1:47. Capt. Jared Barreras came in third with a time of 1:52.
The three will receive a helicopter flight. Renteria also won a custom SHARP backpack.
Maj. Denise Vargas and Staff Sgt. Christina Fury, Victim Advocates for Troop Command, invited each participant to sign a proclamation of commitment to SHARP.
In Albuquerque, the 1115th Transportation Company, led by Capt. Brian Salazar and 1st Sgt. Veronica Saenz, conducted a team building day April 21 in observance of SAAPM.
The Soldiers ran relays carrying weights individually. In teams, they moved stretchers loaded with 200 pounds and loaded them onto trailers where other Soldiers moved them to an opposite side to lower to waiting stretcher teams, simulating evacuation to medical care.
State Command Sgt. Maj. Richard Smith and Brig. Gen. Jamison Herrera, the Deputy Adjutant General of New Mexico, participated in the events.
The transporters also brought canned food, clothing, and hygiene products, which were later delivered to the Albuquerque SANE (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners) Collaborative.
Saenz said the event helped build unit cohesion and supported survivors of sexual assault.
“It was great,” Saenz said. “We had so many donations from our Soldiers.”
The 1115th is currently performing Annual Training.
