> ## 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. # Assault at Air Force Courts-Martial, 2024: The Year in Numbers - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-128-2024/ - Published: 2026-10-28T08:15:28.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-03T01:46:54.000Z - Description: Air Force courts-martial charged Article 128 (assault) in 31 cases in 2024. Of the 27 with a plea on record, 48% were contested, about the same as the 45% across all Air Force cases. Only 47% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge, compared with 62% service-wide. - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Article 128, Air Force [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [By Offense](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-offense/) › [Article 128](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-128-courts-martial/) › Air Force, 2024 **Short answer:** Air Force courts-martial charged Article 128 (assault) in 31 cases in 2024\. Of the 27 with a plea on record, 48% were contested, about the same as the 45% across all Air Force cases. Only 47% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge, compared with 62% service-wide. Based on 31 cases · 2024 · Air Force records · data updated October 24, 2026 ## Different Sentences at the 2 Court Levels The largest difference in the 2024 assault cases was between general and special courts-martial. The 17 general courts-martial had a median confinement of 2.9 years. The 14 special courts-martial had a median of 2 months. Each court level has different sentencing limits. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. The general court-martial cases were also contested more often: 57%, compared with 38% at special courts-martial. General courts-martial made up 55% of the assault cases, about the same as the 57% for the Air Force overall. ## Most Terms Were Short The records show 21 cases ending in a conviction on at least one charge, and 18 of those sentences included confinement (86%). The median term was 4 months, shorter than the 5 months median for all Air Force cases in 2024. Terms under 6 months made up 14 convictions, or 67%, higher than the 44% service-wide share. No conviction was between 6 months and 1 year, compared with 11% Air Force-wide. No confinement was imposed in 3 convictions (14%). These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and each covers every charge in the case. | Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Air Force cases in 2024 | | ------------------------------- | ----------- | ---------- | ---------------------------------- | | No confinement | 3 | 14% | 17% | | Under 6 months | 14 | 67% | 44% | | 6 months to 1 year | 0 | 0% | 11% | | More than 1 year, under 5 years | 3 | 14% | 22% | | 5 years or more | 1 | 5% | 6% | ## Long Sentences Were Less Common Confinement over one year was imposed in 4 of 21 convictions (19%), compared with 28% for the Air Force as a whole. Of those 4, 3 were between 1 and 5 years and 1 was 5 years or more. Only a general court-martial can adjudge confinement of more than one year, so all of those terms came from general courts-martial. ## Fewer Discharges Than the Service Rate Of 19 convicted enlisted members, 9 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (47%). Across all Air Force cases in 2024, the share was 62%. Only 1 of the 9 discharges was dishonorable. For officers, the equivalent is dismissal. The 2024 assault cases include 2 convicted officers or warrant officers, and 1 was dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge can still be followed by an administrative separation, which is not in these records. ## How Often Was Assault Charged With Other Offenses? Article 128 was the only charge in 9 of 31 cases. The most common additional charge was Article 128b (domestic violence, numbered since 2019), in 7 cases. Article 120 (sexual assault) appeared in 6, Article 134 (general article) in 4, and Article 107 (false official statement) and Article 121 (larceny) in 2 each. When assault is charged with domestic violence or sexual assault, the assault charge can describe part of the same incident. The adjudged sentence then covers the entire case, not the assault charge alone. ## Who Heard the Cases? The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. In 2024, a military judge alone heard 21 assault cases. Members heard 10: 9 enlisted panels and 1 officer panel. That is 32% of cases with a forum listed. Members heard most contested cases: 10 of 13 (77%). Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas, so the forum figures mainly follow how many cases were contested. ## New Rules Took Effect Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel rather than commanders decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. Assault under Article 128 is not a covered offense. A special trial counsel who takes a covered offense can also take related charges, such as an assault connected to a domestic violence allegation. A second change applies when every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023\. In those cases, the military judge sets the sentence under new sentencing parameters. Both rules depend on the offense date, which these records omit. The 2024 trials therefore include cases under both old and new rules. The records cannot show whether either change affected the figures here. ## Rank and Location The accused were 16 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 12 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 3 officers or warrant officers. Across all Air Force cases in 2024, 54% were junior enlisted, a similar rank makeup. No base tried more than 2 cases. Incirlik AB, Turkey; Cannon AFB, New Mexico; JBSA - Lackland, Texas; and Ft Meade, Maryland had 2 each, and Tyndall AFB, Florida had 1\. Together these five account for 29% of the 31 cases. ## What the Data Cannot Show Air Force records rarely list the charges in a full acquittal, so this page does not give an assault acquittal rate. The data also lacks offense dates, the evidence, and plea agreement terms. It does not include assaults handled through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation. For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see [Article 128 on the law firm's website](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-128/?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 with a trial date in 2024 that charged Article 128 (31 cases), compared with all Air Force cases that year and with 2023. 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 128 (Assault): Court-Martial Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-128-courts-martial/) (hub) - [By Year](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-year/) (hub) - [How Air Force Assault Cases Ended in 2023](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-128-2023/) (previous / next) - [Air Force Article 128 Cases in 2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-128-2025/) (previous / next) - [Fewer or More? Assault Charges at Air Force Courts-Martial, 2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-128-trend-2016-2025/) (the full trend) - [Air Force Article 128 Cases in 2018](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-128-2018/) - [Air Force Article 128 Cases in 2020](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-128-2020/) - [Air Force Article 128 Cases in 2021](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-128-2021/) - [What Sentence Follows an Air Force Assault Conviction?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-128-sent-2016-2025/) - [Article 128 explained on the law firm's website](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-128/?ref=bodiesburied.com) - [Search every case in Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/) (members) ← Previous: [How Air Force Assault Cases Ended in 2023](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-128-2023/)Next: [Air Force Article 128 Cases in 2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-128-2025/) → **Compare: federal court.** [Aggravated Assault: Federal Sentences vs. Air Force Courts-Martial, 2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-aggravated-assault-vs-air-force/) **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.