JROTC racks up 21 allegations of sexual misconduct as Pentagon promises reforms

An Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps patch will be displayed in 2022. Twenty-one instructors in the general JROTC program were accused of sexual misconduct in the 2022-2023 school year, the Defense Department said. (Greydon Furstenau/US Air Force)

WASHINGTON – The Defense Department has said it is committed to implementing congressionally required reforms to the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program after 21 instructors were accused of sexual misconduct in the 2022-2023 school year.

The number was disclosed in an annual report that lawmakers mandated last year following investigations into widespread sexual assault in the century-old high school program, which is designed to teach students about civic duty.

A Senate investigation led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., found 114 allegations of violence, including sexual abuse and sexual harassment of JROTC students by instructors, between 2012 and 2022. A separate House Oversight Committee investigation in 2022 uncovered 60 allegations. the previous five years.

Pentagon officials told Warren in a letter last month that they were implementing key reforms urged by Congress last year to address the issue, including creating standardized agreements requiring high schools to notify military departments within one business day to initiate investigations into misconduct by instructors.

The Department of Defense also created a code of conduct that teachers must sign each year, as well as a form in English and Spanish for parents and students that provides resources and points of contact for reporting instances of inappropriate behavior.

Instructors are prohibited from developing a personal, intimate, or sexual relationship with a cadet or student, attempting to obtain sexual favors from a cadet or student, or making or accepting sexual advances from a cadet or student, according to a prohibited form activities that instructors should set up. sign.

JROTC instructors are typically retired or reserve officers and enlisted noncommissioned officers, but may also be active duty members and honorably discharged veterans. They are hired as school district employees but are also supervised by the military services, according to the Congressional Research Service.

“The Department has implemented enhanced policies to facilitate increased oversight of JROTC programs and promote communication with the schools and school districts that host the programs,” the Pentagon wrote in its 2024 report to Congress.

It added that “any form of sexual discrimination, harassment or misconduct by JROTC instructors is unacceptable.”

Warren said she was pleased to see the Department of Defense “taking important steps to implement these reforms,” ​​but expressed dismay that sexual misconduct had taken root in a program that serves nearly 500,000 students across the country registers.

“It is unthinkable that students who joined JROTC to develop leadership skills and learn about military service were abused by their instructors — adults they should be able to trust,” she said.

The latest figures show that between July 2022 and June 2023, there were nine allegations of sexual misconduct, harassment and discrimination at the Army JROTC, six at the Navy JROTC, three at the Air Force JRTOC and three at the JROTC of the Marine Corps.

Seven of the allegations occurred in Texas, four in Florida and the rest were spread across 10 other states, the Pentagon report said.

Of the 21 investigations, 13 were substantiated, four unsubstantiated and four still ongoing when the report was written. Seventeen instructors were removed and permanently decertified as a result of administrative or criminal investigations, and four instructors were retained or reinstated.

The Department of Defense said allegations of misconduct against JROTC instructors are investigated and adjudicated in the same manner as any allegations against other faculty or staff members of that school district and jurisdiction.

It noted that the Pentagon and military services have no authority over an individual’s eligibility to work as a JROTC instructor, beyond decertifying them.

The Department of Defense is required to brief the Senate and House of Representatives committees on sexual misconduct in the JROTC program every year through 2029. The latest report promises to evaluate the effectiveness of Pentagon reforms in the coming years and make “necessary adjustments.” reduce and address misconduct.