VA training

Last week, Monday thru Friday, 18 - 22 October, I went through Victim's Advocate Training conducted by our SARC (Sexual Assault Response Coordinator).  It was definitely a hard week to go through, but I went through it with some really great people ranging from a one-striped Airman to a Senior Master Sergeant.  I even made peanut butter fudge and chocolate fudge on Wednesday for the class (lots of people took stuff to snack on)...

On Friday night, we met at the main gate of Osan AB at 11pm wearing our SART t-shirts (Sexual Assault Response Team) and went on town patrol.  I was teamed up with 3 females (all other groups had 2 males).  We ventured into around 10 bars and clubs just to make our presence known and put our faces out there so people could know what our purpose is and know that there are opportunities for justice should they fall into bad situations.  Needless to say, it was a pretty rough night.  We were ridiculed, called names, made fun of, and one of our VA's was even spit upon (she's a staff sergeant).  The drunk guy who spat on her  kept asking her if we were the ones who could tell him how to "do it and get away with it".  He was arrested for assault. 

I also had my first encounter with "juicy girls".  These girls are mostly trafficked in from other countries (Russia, Philippines, etc), they are led to believe they are getting job opportunities in the hotel industry, tourism, and restaurant businesses, and when they arrive, their passports are taken, given to bar owners, and they have to work in order to buy their passports back.  Their "job" entails dancing with the men (or women) who come into the bar, buy them drinks, dress scandalously, dance around a pole, etc.  80-90% of their profit each night goes into the owner's pockets and the rest, IF they have behaved and done well, can go to buying back their passports (which usually costs anywhere from $5,000-$10,000.00. 

I couldn't believe the amount of married men who were dancing with these girls.  I also could not believe that,after our higher-ups have told us time and time again not to venture to these places and support human trafficking, they were right there in the middle of it all, sitting at the bars and having the girls buy them drinks.

...so happy to be a part of this amazing Air Force... (please, enjoy the sarcasm in that statement)...