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

Trends › By Offense › Article 92 › Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4)

Based on 210 cases · 2016–2025 · Air Force records · data updated October 24, 2026

Drug Charges Appeared in Many Cases

Only 11 of the 210 cases charged Article 92 by itself.

Drug offenses under Article 112a were charged with it in 102 cases. Article 128 (assault) appeared in 44, Article 134 (general article) in 40, Article 86 (AWOL) in 25, and Article 107 (false official statement) in 19. Every sentence covers all charges in the case, so the results here include these companion charges.

More Punitive Discharges Than the Service Rate

All 210 cases ended in a conviction, and 118 of the convicted members received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (56%). That compares with 48% across all Air Force Article 92 cases. Of those 118, 23 were dishonorable.

A punitive discharge is part of the court-martial sentence. A sentence without one does not rule out a later administrative separation, and these records do not track administrative separations.

Confinement Was Common and Usually Short

Of the 210 convictions, 192 included confinement. The median confinement was 4 months, the same as across all Air Force Article 92 cases. A quarter of sentences were 10 months or longer.

Only 18 convictions (9%) included no confinement, compared with 19% across the service. Sentences under 6 months made up 57%, compared with 50%. Sentences of 6 months to 1 year made up 19%, compared with 16%.

Sentences longer than one year came in 34 of 210 convictions (16%), about the same as the 15% for all Air Force Article 92 cases. Each figure is the sentence adjudged at trial, before a plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.

Most Were Special Courts-Martial

Special courts-martial heard 147 cases, and general courts-martial heard 63. The general court-martial share was 30%, lower than the 38% for all Air Force Article 92 cases. A special court-martial cannot adjudge more than one year of confinement or a dishonorable discharge.

At special courts-martial, the median confinement was 3 months, and 12% of cases were contested. At general courts-martial, the median was 1.3 years, and 40% of cases were contested.

Most Recorded Pleas Were Guilty Pleas

The plea is listed in 109 of the 210 records. Air Force records from 2016 to 2019 rarely list a guilty plea. Among the 109, 86 accused pleaded guilty and 23 contested at least one charge. A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to any charge.

The contested share was 21%, lower than the 29% across all Air Force Article 92 cases. A military judge alone decided 175 cases. Members heard only 17% of cases with the forum listed: 13 enlisted panels and 22 officer panels. Among contested cases, members heard 17 of 23 (74%). The accused usually chooses the forum, and most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas.

A partial acquittal is a finding of not guilty on at least one charge or specification and guilty on another. 10 of the 23 contested cases ended in a partial acquittal (43%).

Cases by Year

The cases were tried from February 2016 to December 2025, with 11 to 30 cases a year. The highest count was 30, in 2019. The lowest was 11, in 2024. The other years had 19 in 2016, 24 in 2017, 20 in 2018, 21 in 2020, 25 in 2021, 22 in 2022, 17 in 2023, and 21 in 2025.

The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. It brought written plea agreements and judge-alone special courts-martial for cases with offenses after that date. The records list trial dates only. They cannot sort cases by which rules applied or show whether the law change affected any count.

Installations and Rank

Whiteman AFB, Missouri, JBSA - Lackland, Texas, Dyess AFB, Texas, and Moody AFB, Georgia, had the most cases, with 7 each. JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, had 6. These 5 installations account for 16% of the cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind.

Every accused here was junior enlisted, so this group is more junior than all Air Force Article 92 cases.

What the Records Do Not Show

Air Force records rarely list the charges in a full acquittal, so this page gives no acquittal rate. The records also do not show the specific order involved, offense dates, evidence, or plea terms. They do not include violations handled through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation. Those cases never reach a courtroom, so this page shows only cases that went to trial.

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.