> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # NCOs (E-5 to E-9) Charged Under Article 115 in the Air Force - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-115-ncos/ - Published: 2026-10-30T08:13:45.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-30T08:13:45.000Z - Description: The Air Force records hold 13 courts-martial of NCOs (E-5 to E-9) charged under Article 115, communicating threats, from 2021 to 2025. 36% of the convicted NCOs received a punitive discharge, compared with 58% in all Air Force Article 115 cases. - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Article 115, Air Force [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [By Offense](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-offense/) › [Article 115](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-115-courts-martial/) › NCOs (E-5 to E-9) **Short answer:** The Air Force records hold 13 courts-martial of NCOs (E-5 to E-9) charged under Article 115, communicating threats, from 2021 to 2025\. 36% of the convicted NCOs received a punitive discharge, compared with 58% in all Air Force Article 115 cases. Only 23% of these cases were contested, against 38% for the offense as a whole. Based on 13 cases · 2021–2025 · Air Force records · data updated October 24, 2026 ## Fewer Punitive Discharges for NCOs 4 of the 11 convicted NCOs received a punitive discharge. 3 were bad-conduct discharges and 1 was a dishonorable discharge. Across all Air Force Article 115 cases, 58% of convicted enlisted members received one. A punitive discharge is part of the sentence a court-martial adjudges. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation, and these records do not track separations. ## Every Case Carried Another Charge All 13 cases included at least one other charge. Across all Air Force Article 115 cases, 1 of 38 charged Article 115 by itself. Domestic violence under Article 128b was the most common companion charge, in 9 of the 13 cases. Assault under Article 128 appeared in 5 cases, the general article (Article 134) in 3, burglary and unlawful entry (Article 129) in 2, and sexual assault (Article 120) in 1\. The sentence in each case covers every charge, not only the threat. ## Most NCOs Pleaded Guilty 10 of the 13 accused pleaded guilty. The other 3 entered a not-guilty or mixed plea, which makes a case contested. That contested share of 23% is lower than the 38% for all Air Force Article 115 cases. Air Force records never report plea agreements, so these figures cannot show how many guilty pleas came with negotiated terms. ## Confinement in Every Conviction 11 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge. All 11 sentences included confinement (100%). The median confinement was 6 months, the same as the median for all Air Force Article 115 cases. A quarter of the confinement terms were 9 months or longer. These are adjudged sentences: the terms set at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. ## Military Judges Decided Most Cases A military judge alone decided guilt in 10 of the 13 cases (77%). Members heard the other 3, and all 3 were enlisted panels. No officer panel heard any of these cases. In a court-martial, the accused usually chooses between a military judge alone and a panel of members. ## Court Level and Rank General courts-martial heard 7 of the 13 cases (54%), and special courts-martial heard the rest. A general court-martial can adjudge long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial is capped at one year of confinement and cannot adjudge a dishonorable discharge. All 13 accused were NCOs, so this group is more senior than the accused in all Air Force Article 115 cases. ## Cases by Year The 13 cases were tried between April 2021 and December 2025\. The yearly counts were 2 in 2021, 2 in 2022, 3 in 2023, 2 in 2024, and 4 in 2025\. With counts this small, a single trial changes a year's total. ## Rule Changes and Gaps in the Records Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel rather than commanders decide whether to prosecute covered offenses, a list that includes domestic violence. When every guilty finding in a case is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence under new sentencing parameters. Both rules depend on the offense date, and these records give only trial dates, so the 2024 and 2025 trials mix old-rule and new-rule cases. The records also leave out the evidence, the plea terms, and any matter handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation. Air Force records rarely list the charges in a full acquittal, so this page gives no acquittal rate. For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see [Article 115 on the law firm's website](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-115/?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 that charged NCOs (E-5 to E-9) under Article 115 (13 cases), compared with every Air Force Article 115 case. 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 115 (Malingering Before 2019, Communicating Threats Since): Court-Martial Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-115-courts-martial/) (hub) - [Air Force Courts-Martial: Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-courts-martial/) (hub) - [Army Communicating Threats Cases Against Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4): Outcomes and Sentences](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-115-junior-enlisted/) - [NCOs (E-5 to E-9) Charged Under Article 115 in the Army](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-115-ncos/) - [What Happens to Air Force Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4) Facing Communicating Threats Charges?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-115-junior-enlisted/) - [Army Article 115 Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-115-trend-2021-2025/) - [Air Force Article 115 Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-115-trend-2021-2025/) - [Article 115 explained on the law firm's website](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-115/?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.