Air Force Investigates BMT following Instructor Removals

The Air Force is conducting a review of its Basic Military Training enterprise at JBSA-Lackland, Tex., including whether there are leadership shortcomings, reported the Beaumont Enterprise of Beaumont, Tex., June 12. This comes after the service removed 35 BMT instructors—roughly eight percent of its instructor corps—from their jobs over the last year for a variety of reasons including illicit sexual conduct as well as medical and academic issues, repeated tardiness, and failing to meet uniform standards, according to the newspaper. Gen. Edward Rice, Air Education and Training Command boss, said he didn’t “presume that there are command-climate issues,” but he’s not ruling out the possibility, either. The review, he said, “will be comprehensive and will look at every aspect of Basic Military Training to include the command structure,” reported the newspaper. The Air Force did not disclose how many of the cases dealt with sexual misconduct, but Col. Polly Kenny, 2nd Air Force staff judge advocate in Biloxi, Miss., told the newspaper the “majority” did not.