How Air Force Orders Violation Cases Ended in 2022
In 2022, the Air Force tried 36 courts-martial charging Article 92 (orders violation), the same number as in 2021. The enlisted punitive discharge rate was 57%, compared with 44% in 2021 and about the same as the 59% across the service.
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Trends › By Offense › Article 92 › Air Force, 2022
Short answer: In 2022, the Air Force tried 36 courts-martial charging Article 92 (orders violation), the same number as in 2021. The enlisted punitive discharge rate was 57%, compared with 44% in 2021 and about the same as the 59% across the service. The median confinement was 4 months, shorter than the 6 months across all Air Force cases.
Punitive Discharges Matched the Service Rate
Of 35 enlisted members convicted, 20 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (57%). That was about as often as in all Air Force cases in 2022 (59%). It was higher than the 44% for orders violation cases in 2021. Of those 20, 2 were dishonorable.
Officers are dismissed rather than discharged, and the 1 convicted officer or warrant officer here was dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation, which these records do not show.
Half Were General Courts-Martial
In 2021, 28% of these cases were general courts-martial. In 2022, 50% were, or 18 of 36, compared with 57% across the Air Force. The records show the higher discharge rate and the higher general court-martial share in the same year. They cannot show whether one caused the other.
A general court-martial can impose 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 8 months at the 18 general courts-martial and 4 months at the 18 special courts-martial.
Since 2019, a special court-martial can also be tried before a military judge alone, with confinement limited to six months and no punitive discharge. The records do not identify which special courts-martial were of that type.
Contested Cases and Panels
Of the 36 cases, 24 ended in guilty pleas and 12 were contested. A contested case is one where the accused pleaded not guilty to at least one charge. The contested share was 33%, compared with 47% across the Air Force and 25% for these cases in 2021. At general courts-martial, 50% were contested. At special courts-martial, 17% were.
Of the 12 contested cases, 6 ended in a partial acquittal (50%): the accused was found not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another.
The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. A military judge alone decided 28 cases. Members heard 8: 4 enlisted panels and 4 officer panels. That is 22% of cases, compared with 32% across the service. Members heard 8 of the 12 contested cases (67%).
Most Sentences Were Short
Confinement was part of 86% of the 36 convictions. The median confinement was 4 months, compared with 6 months for the Air Force. A quarter of the sentences were 9 months or longer. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each sentence covers every charge in a case.
Sentences under 6 months made up 56% of convictions, compared with 46% across the service. No confinement was imposed in 5 convictions (14%), compared with 10%. Sentences longer than one year came in 5 of 36 convictions (14%), compared with 28%. Of those, 4 were between 1 and 5 years and 1 was 5 years or more.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Air Force cases in 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 5 | 14% | 10% |
| Under 6 months | 20 | 56% | 46% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 6 | 17% | 16% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 4 | 11% | 21% |
| 5 years or more | 1 | 3% | 7% |
Other Charges in the Same Case
Article 92 was the only charge in 8 of 36 cases. Article 112a (drug) was the most common companion charge, in 12. Article 128 (assault) appeared in 7, Article 134 (general article) in 5, and Article 86 (AWOL) and Article 117a (intimate image) in 3 each. A sentence covers the whole case, so these charges are part of the figures above.
Rank of the Accused
Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) made up 61% of the accused, NCOs 36%, and officers 3%. Across all Air Force cases in 2022, junior enlisted members made up 58%, a similar mix. The differences from the service are in sentences and court level, not rank.
Changes From 2021 to 2022
The number of cases was 36 in both years. The median confinement was 4 months in both years, and the share of convictions with confinement was 86% in both years. The contested share was 25% in 2021 and 33% in 2022. The enlisted punitive discharge rate was 44% and then 57%. The general court-martial share was 28% and then 50%. With groups this small, a few cases account for much of any change.
| 2021 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 36 | 36 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 25% | 33% |
| Convictions with confinement | 86% | 86% |
| Median confinement | 4 months | 4 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 44% | 57% |
| General courts-martial | 28% | 50% |
Installations
Hurlburt Field, Florida, tried 3 cases. Keesler AFB, Mississippi, Misawa AB, Japan, JB Charleston, South Carolina, and Eglin AFB, Florida, tried 2 each. Together they account for 31% of the 36 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind.
What the Records Do Not Show
Air Force records rarely list charges in a full acquittal, so this page gives no acquittal rate for Article 92. The data does not include offense dates, evidence, plea agreement terms, or cases handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation.
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.
How We Counted
Air Force courts-martial with a trial date in 2022 that charged Article 92 (36 cases), compared with all Air Force cases that year and with 2021.
Source: public court-martial records (Article 140a, UCMJ) in Military Trial Results, data updated October 24, 2026. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: how this data was built. Errors: content@bodiesburied.com.
Related Analysis
- Article 92 (Failure to Obey Order or Regulation): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- Air Force Article 92 Cases in 2021 (previous / next)
- Air Force Article 92 Cases in 2023 (previous / next)
- Air Force Article 92 Cases by the Numbers, 2016–2025 (the full trend)
- Air Force Article 92 Cases in 2024
- How Air Force Orders Violation Cases Ended in 2020
- What Sentence Follows an Air Force Orders Violation Conviction?
- Article 92 explained on the law firm's website
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
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.