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# Guilty Pleas in Air Force Drunken Or Reckless Driving Cases: How Often, and What Came Next
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-113-plea-2021-2025/
- Published: 2026-10-28T08:06:47.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-30T08:05:01.000Z
- Description: In 34 Air Force cases from 2021–2025 where the accused pleaded guilty to charges including Article 113 (drunken or reckless driving), 47% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge. The share across all Air Force guilty pleas was 62%.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Article 113, Air Force

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [By Offense](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-offense/) › [Article 113](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-113-courts-martial/) › Guilty Pleas in Air Force Drunken Or Rec

**Short answer:** In 34 Air Force cases from 2021–2025 where the accused pleaded guilty to charges including Article 113 (drunken or reckless driving), 47% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge. The share across all Air Force guilty pleas was 62%. The median confinement was 4 months, the same as for all Air Force guilty pleas, and only 2 of 34 convictions (6%) were sentenced to more than one year.

Based on 34 cases · 2021–2025 · Air Force records · data updated October 24, 2026

## Fewer Punitive Discharges, and No Dishonorable Discharges

Article 113 covers operating a vehicle, aircraft, or vessel while drunk or impaired, or in a reckless or wanton way. 32 enlisted members were convicted after pleading guilty to charges that included Article 113\. 15 of them (47%) received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. That is lower than the 62% across all Air Force guilty pleas in those years.

All 15 were bad-conduct discharges, and none was dishonorable. 1 of 2 convicted officers or warrant officers was dismissed. A dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

## Almost All Cases Were Special Courts-Martial

Special courts-martial tried 31 of the 34 cases, and general courts-martial tried 3\. The general court-martial share was 9%, compared with 44% across Air Force guilty pleas.

The court level limits the possible sentence. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement.

## How Much Confinement?

32 of 34 convictions included confinement. The median confinement was 4 months, the same as the median for all Air Force guilty pleas. A quarter of terms were 6 months or longer.

71% of convictions were sentenced to under 6 months, compared with 54% across Air Force guilty pleas. 18% were sentenced to 6 months to 1 year. Only 2 convictions (6%) were sentenced to more than one year, compared with 23%, and none was 5 years or more. Only 2 convictions had no confinement. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. They cover every charge in the case.

| Adjudged confinement            | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Air Force guilty pleas in those years |
| ------------------------------- | ----------- | ---------- | ------------------------------------------------ |
| No confinement                  | 2           | 6%         | 8%                                               |
| Under 6 months                  | 24          | 71%        | 54%                                              |
| 6 months to 1 year              | 6           | 18%        | 16%                                              |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 2           | 6%         | 17%                                              |
| 5 years or more                 | 0           | 0%         | 5%                                               |

## Which Other Offenses Were Charged?

In 26 of the 34 cases, at least one other article was charged. Article 92 (orders violation) was the most common, in 10 cases. Article 112a (drug) was charged in 6, Article 87a (resisting apprehension) in 5, and Article 111 (leaving the scene of an accident) and Article 114 (endangerment) in 4 each.

Some of these other charges, such as resisting apprehension and leaving the scene, concern conduct connected to a driving incident. The sentence covers every charge, so the records cannot show how much of a sentence was for the driving charge.

## Rank of the Accused and Who Decided Guilt

24 of the accused were junior enlisted members, 8 were NCOs, and 2 were officers. This group is more junior than all Air Force guilty pleas in those years.

A military judge alone decided all 34 cases with the forum listed. A military judge usually hears a guilty plea, so this figure follows from the plea. Every accused in this group pleaded guilty. This page therefore describes sentences after a guilty plea, not contested trials.

## Yearly Counts and Locations

The cases were tried between March 2021 and December 2025\. There were 6 cases in 2021, 8 in 2022, 6 in 2023, 7 in 2024, and 7 in 2025\. The yearly counts were about the same. The records give trial dates rather than offense dates, so they cannot show when the driving took place.

JB McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, had the most cases, with 6\. JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, and MacDill AFB, Florida, each had 3\. JB Charleston, South Carolina, and Aviano AB, Italy, each had 2\. Together these installations had 47% of the 34 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count alone does not mean a base has a problem with this offense.

## Law Changes and What the Records Do Not Show

Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. When every guilty finding in a case is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. The records give trial dates but not offense dates. Trials from 2024 on therefore include cases under both the old and new rules.

Air Force records never report plea agreements, so any agreed limit on these sentences is unknown. The records also do not describe the evidence. They do not include driving incidents handled by nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see [Article 113 on the law firm's website](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-113/?ref=bodiesburied.com). Dates and sources for the law changes: [UCMJ change timeline](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/ucmj-change-timeline/).

### How We Counted

Air Force courts-martial tried 2021–2025: where the accused pleaded guilty to charges including Article 113 (drunken or reckless driving) (34 cases), compared with all Air Force guilty pleas in those years.

Source: public court-martial records (Article 140a, UCMJ) in [Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/), data updated October 24, 2026\. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: [how this data was built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/how-the-military-trial-results-data-was-built/). Errors: content@bodiesburied.com.

## Related Analysis

- [Article 113 (Misbehavior of a Sentinel Before 2019, Drunken or Reckless Driving Since): Court-Martial Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-113-courts-martial/) (hub)
- [Sentences](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/sentences/) (hub)
- [Air Force Article 113 Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-113-trend-2021-2025/)
- [How Much Confinement for an Article 113 Conviction in the Air Force?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-113-sent-2021-2025/)
- [Guilty Pleas in Army Drunken Or Reckless Driving Cases: How Often, and What Came Next](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-113-plea-2021-2025/) (another service)
- [Pleading Guilty to Article 113 in the Navy-Marine Corps: What Sentences Followed?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-113-plea-2021-2025/) (another service)
- [Guilty Pleas in Air Force Child Sexual Abuse Cases: How Often, and What Came Next](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-120b-plea-2016-2025/)
- [Article 113 explained on the law firm's website](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-113/?ref=bodiesburied.com)
- [Search every case in Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/) (members)

**About the author.** Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts *Where All The Bodies Are Buried* and runs the [Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.