Washington, Aug 17 (AP) The US military academies must improve their leadership, stop toxic practices such as hazing and shift behaviour training into the classrooms, according to a Pentagon study aimed at addressing an alarming spike in sexual assaults and misconduct.

US officials said the academies must train student leaders better to help their classmates, and upend what has been a disconnect between what the cadets and midshipmen are learning in school and the often negative and unpunished behaviour they see by those mentors.

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The review calls for additional senior officers and enlisted leaders to work with students at the Army, Navy and Air Force academies and provide the expanded training.

Several US officials described the report on condition of anonymity because it has not yet been publicly released.

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They said that too often discussions about stress relief, misconduct, social media and other life issues take place after hours or on the weekends.

The report recommends that those topics be addressed in classes and graded, to promote their importance.

The study comes on the heels of a report this year that showed a sharp spike in reported sexual assaults at the academies during the 2021-22 school year.

It said that one in five female students said in an anonymous survey that they had experienced unwanted sexual contact.

The survey results were the highest since the Defense Department began collecting that data many years ago.

Student-reported assaults at the academies jumped 18 per cent overall compared with the previous year, fuelled in part by the Navy, which had nearly double the number in 2022, compared with 2021.

The anonymous survey accompanying the report found increases in all types of unwanted sexual contact — from touching to rape — at all the schools. And it cited alcohol as a key factor.

In response to the spike in assaults, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered on-site evaluations at the US Naval Academy in Maryland, the Air Force Academy in Colorado and the US Military Academy at West Point in New York, to explore the issues and identify solutions.

The new report, expected to be released Thursday, makes several immediate and longer-term recommendations to improve assault and harassment prevention and eliminate toxic climates that fuel the problems.

Austin is ordering quick implementation of the changes.

In a memo, Austin acknowledges that the academies “have far more work to do to halt sexual assault and harassment.”

He says the increase in assaults and harassment “is disturbing and unacceptable. It endangers our teammates and degrades our readiness.”

Officials familiar with the study said that while the academies offer a lot of strong programs, toxic and unhealthy command climates make them less effective.

When cadets and midshipmen learn one thing about leadership or prevention in the classroom, but they don't see it reinforced in other settings, it sends mixed messages about what to expect, about how to be treated and how to treat others, said one official.

Such mixed messages, they said, create cynicism and distrust.

The officials pointed to the Air Force Academy's longstanding system that treats freshmen differently and badly, promoting hazing and an unhealthy climate.

They said those students may leave the academy with a poor sense of what good leadership looks like.

They added that a contributing factor to the behaviour problems is that — like other college students around the country — many more cadets and midshipmen are arriving at the academies with previous bad experiences, ranging from assaults and harassment to thoughts of or attempts at suicide.

On top of that, the report says incoming students then face a lot of stress as they grapple with their education and the military training.

In many cases, the report says that student leaders aren't trained or equipped to handle those issues or provide proper support to the students.

Another problem, officials said, is the ever expanding influence of social media, where bullying and harassment can go on unchecked.

The report pointed to Jodel, an anonymous social media app that focuses on a specific location and is in wide use by academy students.

The report said students can get inaccurate information about assault prevention, reporting, resources and military justice from the app, making them less likely to seek help.

It said training at the academies has not kept pace with change, including the ever-evolving social media platforms and how students differ today from in the past. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)