What Sentence Follows an Air Force Obstruction Conviction?

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Based on 29 cases · 2016–2025 · Air Force records · data updated October 24, 2026

Obstruction Convictions Had Longer Sentences

This post covers only convictions: Air Force cases that ended with a guilty finding and included an Article 131b charge. In this group, sentences were more severe than the Air Force average on almost every measure in the records.

Confinement was part of 90% of the 29 convictions. The median term was 9 months, compared with 4 months across all Air Force convictions in the same years. A quarter of the confinement terms in this group were 2 years or longer.

These are adjudged sentences, meaning what was announced at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each one also covers every charge in the case, not the obstruction charge alone.

Sentences by Band

Terms under 6 months made up 28% of these convictions, compared with 48% across all Air Force convictions. Terms of 6 months to 1 year were more common here: 38%, compared with 15%. Terms of more than 1 year and under 5 years were less common: 10%, compared with 16%.

Terms of 5 years or more were imposed in 4 convictions (14%), compared with 7% service-wide. Only 3 convictions (10%) included no confinement, compared with 15% across the Air Force. Overall, sentences longer than one year were about as common as elsewhere: 7 of 29 convictions, or 24%, compared with 23%.

Punitive Discharges

Of 29 convicted enlisted members, 24 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. That rate was 83%, compared with 56% in all Air Force convictions. Of those 24, 11 were dishonorable discharges, the most severe discharge a court-martial can adjudge for enlisted members.

No officers appear in this group, so no dismissals are reported. Dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation, which these records do not track.

Obstruction Was Almost Always Charged With Other Offenses

Only 4 of the 29 cases charged Article 131b by itself. The other cases included other offenses. The most common were Article 134 (the general article) in 9 cases, Article 112a (drug offenses) in 8, Article 92 (orders violation) in 7, Article 128 (assault) in 6, and Article 120c (indecent recording and exposure) in 5.

This affects the sentence figures. A sentence covers every charge, so the confinement in a case that also charged drugs or assault covers the whole case. The records do not divide the sentence by charge.

General and Special Courts-Martial Compared

General courts-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. They heard 17 of these 29 cases (59%). Special courts-martial heard the other 12. A special court-martial is capped at one year of confinement and cannot adjudge a dishonorable discharge.

At general courts-martial, 88% of convictions included confinement, with a median of 1 year. At special courts-martial, 92% did, with a median of 5 months. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year, so the longest sentences in this group came from general courts-martial.

Pleas, Forum, and Rank

Of the 26 records that list a plea, 19 were guilty pleas and 7 were not-guilty or mixed pleas, so 27% were contested. A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. The contested share across all Air Force convictions was 31%, slightly higher.

A military judge alone decided guilt in 23 of 29 cases (79%). Members heard 6: 5 enlisted panels and 1 officer panel. Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas, so the forum figures mostly follow how many cases were contested. By rank, the group included 20 junior enlisted members and 9 NCOs. That rank makeup is similar to Air Force convictions overall.

Cases Begin in 2019

The period begins in 2016, but the first case was tried in December 2019 and the last in March 2025. The yearly count was 0 in 2016, 2017, and 2018. It was 2 in 2019, 6 in 2020, 7 in 2021, 6 in 2022, 4 in 2023, 3 in 2024, and 1 in 2025.

No installation had more than 2 cases. JB Andrews, Maryland; Ramstein AB, Germany; Creech AFB, Nevada; and Fairchild AFB, Washington each had 2, and Barksdale AFB, Louisiana had 1. Those five account for 31% of the 29 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a count by base says little on its own.

Rule Changes During the Period

The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. It set fixed panel sizes, created judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months with no punitive discharge, and introduced written plea agreements. Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel decide whether to prosecute covered offenses. When every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sentences within new sentencing parameters.

Both later changes depend on the offense date, which these records do not include. Trials from 2024 on therefore include cases under both old and new rules. The records cannot show whether any of these changes affected the sentences above.

Limits of the Records

Only cases that reached a court-martial appear here. Nonjudicial punishment, administrative separations, and cases dropped without action are not included. The records do not describe the evidence. Air Force records never report plea agreements, and from 2016 to 2019 they rarely list a guilty plea.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.

Compare: federal court. Obstruction of Justice: Federal Sentences vs. Air Force Courts-Martial

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. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.