When Army Accused Plead Guilty to Insubordination
Army records include 23 guilty-plea courts-martial from 2021–2025 with an insubordination charge under Article 91. A punitive discharge was adjudged in 61% of enlisted convictions, lower than the 75% for all Army guilty pleas.
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Short answer: Army records include 23 guilty-plea courts-martial from 2021–2025 with an insubordination charge under Article 91. A punitive discharge was adjudged in 61% of enlisted convictions, lower than the 75% for all Army guilty pleas. The median confinement was 4 months, compared with 5 months for all Army guilty pleas.
Every Case Included Another Charge
Article 91 covers insubordinate conduct toward a warrant officer, noncommissioned officer, or petty officer, including striking, disobeying, or showing disrespect. In this group, 0 of the 23 cases charged it by itself.
The most common other charge was Article 128 (assault), in 10 cases. Article 90 (disobeying an officer) appeared in 8, Article 112a (drugs) in 7, Article 89 (disrespect) in 6, and Article 134 (the general article) in 5. Each sentence below covers all of the charges, not the insubordination charge alone.
Articles 89 and 90 concern disrespect toward and disobedience of a superior commissioned officer. Article 91 concerns warrant officers and NCOs. The 8 cases with Article 90 and the 6 with Article 89 therefore charged conduct toward both commissioned officers and NCOs.
Fewer Punitive Discharges
Of 23 convicted enlisted members, 14 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (61%). Of those, 3 were dishonorable. Across all Army guilty pleas in those years, the share was 75%.
No officers were in this group, so there were no dismissals. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation, which these records do not track.
Almost Every Sentence Included Confinement
Confinement was part of 22 of 23 sentences (96%). The median confinement was 4 months, compared with 5 months for all Army guilty pleas. A quarter of sentences were 1 year or longer, and 1 was a life sentence.
These are adjudged sentences, announced at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.
Sentence Lengths
Terms under 6 months made up 61% of convictions, compared with 44% across Army guilty pleas. Only 1 conviction (4%) had no confinement, compared with 14%. Terms of 6 months to 1 year made up 13%, compared with 18%.
Sentences longer than one year were about as common as across Army guilty pleas: 5 of 23 convictions (22%), compared with 24%. Of those, 3 were between 1 and 5 years and 2 were 5 years or more. Sentences of 5 years or more were 9% of convictions here, compared with 6% for the wider group. With so few cases, 1 sentence changes these shares noticeably.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Army guilty pleas in those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 1 | 4% | 14% |
| Under 6 months | 14 | 61% | 44% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 3 | 13% | 18% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 3 | 13% | 17% |
| 5 years or more | 2 | 9% | 6% |
Court Level and Rank
General courts-martial, the level that can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge, heard 14 of the 23 cases (61%). Special courts-martial, capped at one year of confinement, heard the rest. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year.
The accused were 18 junior enlisted members, 5 NCOs, and 0 officers. This mix was more junior than all Army guilty pleas in those years.
Forum
A military judge alone decided guilt in 23 of 23 cases with the forum listed (100%). Most guilty pleas are decided by a military judge alone.
Army records show whether a plea agreement existed but not its terms. Any limit an agreement put on the sentence does not appear in the adjudged figures.
Fewer Cases Each Year
These cases were tried from June 2021 to July 2025. The yearly count went down each year: 9 in 2021, 6 in 2022, 5 in 2023, 2 in 2024, and 1 in 2025. The records cannot show why the count declined.
Fort Bragg had 5 cases. Fort Hood, Fort Bliss, Fort Riley, and Fort Huachuca had 2 each. Those five installations had 57% of the 23 cases. The counts are small, so the ranking does not show anything about a particular base.
Law Changes
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. When every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters.
Both rules depend on the offense date, which these records do not give. Trials from 2024 on therefore include cases under both the old and new rules. The data cannot show whether either change affected these outcomes. Army records are sparse before 2021, after Article 140a publication was required by December 2020.
What the Records Do Not Show
Insubordination handled without a court-martial, through nonjudicial punishment or administrative action, is not included. The records give trial dates, not offense dates. They also do not show the evidence or the plea terms.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Army courts-martial tried 2021–2025: where the accused pleaded guilty to charges including Article 91 (insubordination) (23 cases), compared with all Army guilty pleas in those years.
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 91 (Insubordinate Conduct Toward NCO): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Sentences (hub)
- Fewer or More? Insubordination Charges at Army Courts-Martial, 2021–2025
- What Sentence Follows an Army Insubordination Conviction?
- Not Guilty Pleas in Army Article 91 Cases: What Happened at Trial
- Guilty Pleas in Army Child Endangerment Cases: How Often, and What Came Next
- Guilty Pleas in Army Communicating Threats Cases: How Often, and What Came Next
- Guilty Pleas in Army Conspiracy Cases: How Often, and What Came Next
- Guilty Pleas in Army Domestic Violence Cases: How Often, and What Came Next
- 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.