Mentoring of recruits could help stamp out inappropriate behaviours, a leading military academic has said.
Lt Victoria Carr (Int Corps) – a senior research fellow at the Sandhurst-based Centre for Army Leadership – said the measure could promote values and standards in initial training.
But she said the move would have to be properly managed with career benefits in place for the leaders who step up.
Lt Carr – a Reservist and civvy street headteacher – stressed that although many of today’s youngsters would call out discrimination, some were being exposed to negative influences on social media.
“For whatever reason, there are clearly people joining who think sexually inappropriate behaviours are okay,” she said.
“We need to question where these recruits are getting such a distorted moral code from.”
She continued: “Mentors should come from outside people’s chain of command.
“Authentic mentoring comes from a person you can identify with – so in the case of a soldier in phase one training, a lance corporal would be perfect.”
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