What Happens to Air Force Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4) Facing AWOL Charges?

Trends › By Offense › Article 86 › Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4)

Based on 78 cases · 2016–2025 · Air Force records · data updated October 24, 2026

Absence Was Rarely the Only Charge

Article 86 covers failing to report to an appointed place of duty, leaving it, and absence from a unit without authority. Only 6 of the 78 cases charged it alone. Drug offenses under Article 112a were the most common companion charge, in 49 cases.

Article 92 (orders violation) appeared in 25 cases and Article 107 (false official statement) in 23. Article 134 (general article) was charged in 11 cases, and Article 90 (disobeying an officer) in 8. A sentence covers every charge in the case. The sentences below therefore describe AWOL cases together with their companion charges, not unauthorized absence alone.

Confinement Was Almost Always Part of the Sentence

All 78 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 75 of those sentences included confinement (96%). The median confinement was 3 months, the same as the 3 months across all Air Force Article 86 cases. A quarter of the sentences were 6 months or longer.

These are adjudged sentences. They are the sentences announced at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.

Most Sentences Were Under 6 Months

Sentences under 6 months made up 68% of convictions, the same share as across the service. Sentences of 6 months to 1 year made up 21%, compared with 19%.

Only 6 of 78 convictions (8%) included more than one year, about the same as the 7% across the service. None included 5 years or more. Only 3 convictions (4%) included no confinement, compared with 6% across all Air Force Article 86 cases.

How Often Was There a Punitive Discharge?

Of the 78 enlisted members convicted, 40 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (51%). That compares with 47% in all Air Force Article 86 cases. Of those 40, 3 were dishonorable discharges and the rest were bad-conduct discharges.

A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation. Administrative separations are not part of court-martial records.

Most Cases Were Special Courts-Martial

Special courts-martial heard 65 of the cases, and general courts-martial heard 13. The general court-martial share was 17%, slightly lower than the 20% for all Air Force Article 86 cases. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.

The median confinement was 3 months at special courts-martial. At general courts-martial, which can impose any lawful sentence, the median was 1 year. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement, so all 6 sentences longer than one year came from general courts-martial.

Pleas and Who Decided Guilt

The plea is listed in 44 of the 78 records. Of those, 38 accused pleaded guilty and 6 entered a not-guilty or mixed plea, so 14% were contested. Air Force records from 2016 to 2019 rarely list a guilty plea, so many records have no plea listed.

A military judge alone decided 68 cases. Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas. Members heard 13% of cases with the forum listed: 3 enlisted panels and 7 officer panels. The accused usually chooses between a military judge and a panel.

Cases by Year and Installation

The cases were tried from June 2016 to September 2025. Yearly counts were between 4 and 13: 8 in 2016, 9 in 2017, 7 in 2018, 8 in 2019, 12 in 2020, 6 in 2021, 5 in 2022, 13 in 2023, 4 in 2024, and 6 in 2025.

Dyess AFB, Texas, tried 5 of these cases. Osan AB, South Korea, JB McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, and Nellis AFB, Nevada, tried 4 each. Travis AFB, California, tried 3. Together these installations account for 26% of the cases. Larger installations try more cases of all kinds.

Junior enlisted members made up 78% of all Air Force Article 86 cases. Most AWOL cases in the Air Force involve these grades.

Rules and Record Limits

The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. It added judge-alone special courts-martial and written plea agreements. The records list trial dates, not offense dates, so they cannot place each case under the old or new rules.

The records do not show the length of each absence, the evidence, or plea terms. They do not include absences handled by nonjudicial punishment. Air Force records also rarely list the charges in a full acquittal.

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.