AWOL at Air Force Courts-Martial, 2016: The Year in Numbers

Trends › By Offense › Article 86 › Air Force, 2016

Based on 10 cases · 2016 · Air Force records · data updated October 24, 2026

Junior Enlisted Members Made Up Most of These Cases

8 accused were junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4), 1 was an NCO (E-5 to E-9), and 1 was an officer or warrant officer. Across all Air Force cases in 2016, junior enlisted members were 65% of the accused, so this group was more junior than the service as a whole.

Special courts-martial heard most of these cases. Only 3 of the 10 were general courts-martial (30%), compared with 47% for all Air Force cases in 2016. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence.

Confinement After a Conviction

Of the 10 convictions, 8 included confinement. The median confinement was 5 months, close to the 4 months for all Air Force cases in 2016.

Among the sentences that included confinement, a quarter were 8 months or longer. These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each one covers every charge in the case, not the AWOL charge alone.

Drug Charges Were the Most Common Companion

Only 1 of the 10 cases charged Article 86 by itself. Article 112a (drug) appeared alongside it in 5 cases. Article 107 (false official statement) and Article 134 (general article) appeared in 4 cases each.

Article 115 (malingering) and Article 128 (assault) each appeared in 1 case.

Who Decided Guilt

A military judge alone decided guilt in 6 of the 10 cases (60%). Members heard the other 4, and all 4 were officer panels. No case went to an enlisted panel. The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt.

The Rules That Applied in 2016

All of these trials took place before the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. That law later set fixed panel sizes, created judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months with no punitive discharge, and introduced written plea agreements. None of those changes applied to these cases.

What These Records Leave Out

The records show charges, findings, and sentences for cases that reached a court-martial, and they give trial dates, not offense dates. They do not show the evidence, the plea terms, or conduct handled by nonjudicial punishment. Air Force records from 2016 to 2019 rarely list a guilty plea, so this post does not report how many accused pleaded guilty. Air Force records never report plea agreements. They also rarely list the charges in a full acquittal, so cases that ended that way seldom appear in a count by offense.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 86 on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: UCMJ change timeline.

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.