NCOs (E-5 to E-9) Charged Under Article 113 in the Army
Army records show 27 courts-martial from 2021 through 2025 charging NCOs (E-5 to E-9) with drunken or reckless driving under Article 113. The median confinement was 50 days, compared with 4 months in all Army Article 113 cases.
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Trends › By Offense › Article 113 › NCOs (E-5 to E-9)
Short answer: Army records show 27 courts-martial from 2021 through 2025 charging NCOs (E-5 to E-9) with drunken or reckless driving under Article 113. The median confinement was 50 days, compared with 4 months in all Army Article 113 cases. Of those convicted, 35% received a punitive discharge, compared with 43%.
A Median Confinement of 50 Days
Of 26 convictions, 17 included confinement. The median term among those was 50 days, shorter than the 4 months across all Army Article 113 cases. A quarter of terms were 9 months or longer. Most terms were short, but a smaller group was much longer.
These are adjudged sentences. They reflect what the court announced at trial for every charge in the case, before a plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal could reduce them.
Many Convictions With No Confinement
No confinement was adjudged in 9 convictions (35%). Across all Army Article 113 cases, that share was 22%. Terms under 6 months made up 42% of NCO convictions, compared with 51%.
The longer bands were about the same as service-wide. Terms of 6 months to 1 year made up 12%, compared with 13%. Terms longer than one year were given in 3 of 26 convictions (12%), compared with 13%. None was 5 years or more.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Army Article 113 cases |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 9 | 35% | 22% |
| Under 6 months | 11 | 42% | 51% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 3 | 12% | 13% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 3 | 12% | 12% |
| 5 years or more | 0 | 0% | 1% |
Punitive Discharges Were Less Common
Among the 26 NCOs convicted, 9 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (35%), less often than the 43% across all Army Article 113 cases. Of those 9, 1 was a dishonorable discharge. A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge for enlisted members, and the officer equivalent is a dismissal.
A sentence without a punitive discharge does not guarantee continued service. An administrative separation can still follow, and these records do not include that step.
Guilty Pleas and Plea Agreements
Of the 27 accused, 24 pleaded guilty and 3 contested at least one charge by entering a not-guilty or mixed plea. The contested share, 11%, is the same as the 11% across all Army Article 113 cases.
Army records note whether a guilty plea came with a plea agreement, though not the terms. Here 22 of the 24 guilty pleas are recorded with one, and 2 have no entry. Since 2019, written plea agreements can set limits on the sentence. The records do not show any limit that applied in these cases. The figures above are the sentences as adjudged.
Who Decided Guilt and at What Level
A military judge alone decided 24 cases, and enlisted panels heard 3. Members decided 11% of the cases, compared with 7% across all Army Article 113 cases. The accused usually chooses between a judge and a panel, and most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas.
General courts-martial, the level that can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge, heard 8 of the 20 cases with a court level listed (40%). Special courts-martial heard the rest. The court level is not listed for 7 cases. A special court-martial is limited to one year of confinement and cannot adjudge a dishonorable discharge. Since 2019, a special court-martial can also be tried by a judge alone, limited to six months of confinement with no punitive discharge.
Other Charges in the Same Case
Of the 27 cases, 13 charged at least one article besides Article 113. Article 128 (assault) appeared in 5, Article 92 (orders violation) in 4, Article 134 (general article) in 3, and Article 115 (communicating threats) and Article 128b (domestic violence) in 2 each.
The sentence covers every charge, so the figures above describe whole cases. When a case also included an assault or domestic violence charge, the sentence covers both.
Cases by Year and Installation
The cases were tried from June 2021 to September 2025: 3 cases in 2021, 5 in 2022, 10 in 2023, 8 in 2024, and 1 in 2025. Army records in this data are sparse before 2021, following the requirement that the services begin publishing trial records under Article 140a by December 2020.
Fort Wainwright tried 6 of these cases and Camp Humphreys 4. Vicenza (Europe) and Wheeler Army Airfield tried 3 each, and Kaiserslautern (Europe) 2. Together they tried 67% of the cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind.
All 27 accused were NCOs. Across all Army Article 113 cases, 51% were junior enlisted.
Limits of the Records
With 27 cases, a few sentences can change any of these shares. The records omit blood alcohol results, injuries, evidence, and plea terms. They list trial dates, not offense dates, so they cannot show which cases came under the sentencing rules for offenses after December 27, 2023. Cases resolved by nonjudicial punishment are not included.
For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 113 on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Army courts-martial tried 2021–2025 that charged NCOs (E-5 to E-9) under Article 113 (27 cases), compared with every Army Article 113 case.
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 113 (Misbehavior of a Sentinel Before 2019, Drunken or Reckless Driving Since): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Army Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- What Happens to Army Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4) Facing Drunken Or Reckless Driving Charges?
- Air Force Drunken Or Reckless Driving Cases Against Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4): Outcomes and Sentences
- What Happens to Navy-Marine Corps Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4) Facing Drunken Or Reckless Driving Charges?
- Is Army Drunken Or Reckless Driving Prosecution Rising or Falling? Article 113, 2021–2025
- Air Force Article 113 Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025
- Article 113 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.