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

Trends › By Offense › Article 92 › Air Force, 2016

Based on 32 cases · 2016 · Air Force records · data updated October 24, 2026

Rarely the Only Charge

Only 3 of the 32 cases charged Article 92 by itself. The most common companion charge was Article 134 (general article), in 14 cases. Article 112a (drug) appeared in 13. Article 128 (assault) and Article 107 (false official statement) appeared in 7 each, and Article 121 (larceny) in 3.

A court-martial sentence covers every charge in a case. The confinement and discharge figures below therefore reflect all the charges, not the orders violation alone. The records do not split a sentence by charge. General article and drug charges appeared in many of these cases, so most 2016 orders violation convictions came with other charges.

Confinement Was Longer Than the Air Force Median

Confinement was part of 88% of the 32 convictions. The median confinement was 11 months, compared with 4 months for all Air Force courts-martial in 2016. A quarter of the sentences were 2 years or longer.

These are adjudged sentences: the sentences announced at trial, before clemency or appellate review. Written plea agreements came with the Military Justice Act of 2016, which did not apply to these 2016 trials.

Confinement by Length

Confinement longer than one year came in 10 of 32 convictions (31%), compared with 20% across the Air Force. Of those, 8 were between 1 and 5 years, a 25% share compared with 13% across the service. The other 2 were 5 years or more, about the same as the Air Force rate. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement. A special court-martial is capped at one year.

Sentences under 6 months made up 34% of these convictions, lower than the 44% across the service. Another 7 convictions (22%) were between 6 months and 1 year, and 4 (12%) included no confinement.

An Even Split Between Court Levels

There were 16 general and 16 special courts-martial. The general court-martial share was 50%, about the same as the 47% for all Air Force cases. 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 median confinement was 1.8 years at general courts-martial and 2 months at special courts-martial.

How Often Was There a Punitive Discharge?

A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. One followed 65% of enlisted convictions: 12 bad-conduct and 8 dishonorable. Across all Air Force cases in 2016, the rate was 54%. The 1 convicted officer or warrant officer in the group was dismissed, which is the officer equivalent.

A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation. Administrative separations do not appear in court-martial records.

Who Decided Guilt?

The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. In these cases, a military judge alone decided 23. Members heard the other cases: 3 enlisted panels and 6 officer panels. Members heard 28% of the cases, compared with 45% across the Air Force in 2016.

Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas. Air Force records from this period rarely list a guilty plea, so the lower panel share cannot be compared with how many of these cases were contested.

Rank and Installations

By rank, the accused were 19 junior enlisted members, 12 NCOs, and 1 officer. The group is more senior than all Air Force cases in 2016.

Peterson SFB, Colorado, tried 3 cases. Aviano AB, Italy, Whiteman AFB, Missouri, FE Warren AFB, Wyoming, and JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, tried 2 each. Together they account for 34% of the 32 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count alone does not mean an installation has a problem with orders violations.

Rules in 2016 and Record Gaps

These trials came before the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. Its fixed panel sizes, judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months, and written plea agreements did not apply here.

Air Force records from 2016 to 2019 rarely list a guilty plea, so no contested share is reported. They also rarely list charges in a full acquittal, so no acquittal rate is given for Article 92. The records give trial dates, not offense dates. They do not include the evidence, the plea terms, or cases handled by nonjudicial punishment.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 92 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.