26th Lackland MTI heads to court-martial

A military training instructor accused of unprofessional relationships with seven technical training students between July 2010 and July 2012 will be the 26th to answer to charges in a basic training scandal at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.

A special court-martial for Staff Sgt. Michael Wladischkin is set to begin Wednesday, according to a base news release. The trainees with whom Wladischkin is accused of having unprofessional relationships had graduated from basic training and therefore were not under the MTI’s direct supervision at the time of the alleged misconduct.

Wladischkin, of the 324th Training Squadron, is accused of having sex with four of the women, according to the charge sheet. He allegedly asked a fifth to lie to investigators about their involvement.

Wladischkin faces up to a year in confinement and a bad conduct discharge, the maximum penalty in a special court-martial.

The series of military trials began in April 2012. So far, two dozen former basic training instructors have been convicted of some or all of the charges against them, which have ranged from rape to sending inappropriate messages to trainees over social media.

Only one was acquitted of all charges. The case against a 27th MTI was dropped before the trial began when a judge ruled investigators improperly seized evidence.

The cases, which grabbed national headlines, have ushered in dozens of changes at basic, including tougher requirements for instructors, increased manning and greater supervision of trainers. The Air Force is also adding more women to the MTI corps.

All but one of the instructors sent to court-martial were men.