Article 86 Across the Services: Cases, Pleas, and Sentences, 2021–2025
In the 221 courts-martial charging Article 86 (AWOL) across the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps from 2021–2025, the median confinement was 3 months, compared with 6 months for all courts-martial in those years.
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Trends › By Offense › Article 86 › Across the services
Short answer: In the 221 courts-martial charging Article 86 (AWOL) across the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps from 2021–2025, the median confinement was 3 months, compared with 6 months for all courts-martial in those years. Only 6 of 55 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (11%), compared with 37% overall.
The Same Share of Cases in Each Service
Article 86 covers absence without leave. It appeared in 4% of courts-martial in each of the three services. The Army had the most cases, 99. The Navy-Marine Corps had 79, and the Air Force had 43.
An AWOL charge can be tried alone or with other charges. The counts here include every case that charged Article 86.
| Service | Cases charging Article 86 | Share of that service's cases |
|---|---|---|
| Army | 99 | 4% |
| Air Force | 43 | 4% |
| Navy-Marine Corps | 79 | 4% |
Short Sentences in Every Service
The Air Force and the Navy-Marine Corps each had a median confinement of 3 months, from 43 and 77 convictions. The Army median was 4 months, from 95 convictions. Across the three services, the median was 3 months, shorter than the 6 months for all courts-martial in those years.
Few sentences were longer than 1 year: 8% in the Army, 9% in the Air Force, and 10% in the Navy-Marine Corps. Confinement was part of 95% of Air Force sentences, 87% of Navy-Marine Corps sentences, and 79% of Army sentences.
These figures are adjudged sentences, as announced at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each one covers every charge in the case.
| Service | Convictions | Included confinement | Median confinement | More than 1 year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 95 | 79% | 4 months | 8% |
| Air Force | 43 | 95% | 3 months | 9% |
| Navy-Marine Corps | 77 | 87% | 3 months | 10% |
Contested Cases and Verdicts
A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. The Navy-Marine Corps contested share was 30% of 77 cases with a plea recorded. The Army share was 25% of 99, and the Air Force share was 17% of 41.
Of 25 Army contested cases that reached a verdict, 16% ended in a full acquittal. Of 23 Navy-Marine Corps cases, 9% did. No Air Force rate is given for this offense, because Air Force records rarely list the charges in a full acquittal. Counting every contested case with a verdict in the records, 6 of 55 ended in a full acquittal (11%), lower than the 37% for all courts-martial in those years.
| Service | Contested share | Cases with a plea recorded | Full acquittal (contested, verdict reached) | Contested cases with a verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 25% | 99 | 16% | 25 |
| Air Force | 17% | 41 | — | — |
| Navy-Marine Corps | 30% | 77 | 9% | 23 |
Punitive Discharges Varied by Service
The Army imposed a punitive discharge on 67% of 87 convicted enlisted members. The Navy-Marine Corps rate was 59% of 71. The Air Force rate was 43% of 42, the lowest of the three. The Army also had the highest general court-martial share, shown below.
A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. A sentence without one does not rule out a later administrative separation, which these records do not show.
General or Special Court-Martial by Service
The Army tried 45% of its Article 86 cases at a general court-martial. The Air Force share was 23%, and the Navy-Marine Corps share was 19%. A special court-martial, where the rest of these cases were tried, caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence.
| Service | Convicted enlisted members | Punitive discharge | General court-martial share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 87 | 67% | 45% |
| Air Force | 42 | 43% | 23% |
| Navy-Marine Corps | 71 | 59% | 19% |
Yearly Counts
The total went from 51 in 2021 to 45 in 2022, 48 in 2023, 42 in 2024, and 35 in 2025. The Army count was 28 in 2021 and 12 in 2025. The Navy-Marine Corps count stayed between 13 and 19 each year, and in 2025 it had more cases than the Army (15 compared with 12).
The Air Force had 7 cases in most years. Its highest count was 14, in 2023.
| Year | Army | Air Force | Navy-Marine Corps |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 28 | 7 | 16 |
| 2022 | 19 | 7 | 19 |
| 2023 | 21 | 14 | 13 |
| 2024 | 19 | 7 | 16 |
| 2025 | 12 | 8 | 15 |
Junior Enlisted Members Were Most of the Accused
Among the accused with rank recorded, junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) were 84% in the Navy-Marine Corps and 79% in the Air Force. The Army share was lower, at 57%, with 35% NCOs (E-5 to E-9) and 8% officers.
In the Navy-Marine Corps, 15% of the accused were NCOs and 1% were officers. In the Air Force, 19% were NCOs and 2% were officers. The Navy-Marine Corps shares use 74 cases with rank listed.
| Service | Cases with rank | Junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4) | NCOs (E-5 to E-9) | Officers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 99 | 57% | 35% | 8% |
| Air Force | 43 | 79% | 19% | 2% |
| Navy-Marine Corps | 74 | 84% | 15% | 1% |
The Rules During These Years
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. For cases where every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. Because the records give the trial date and not the offense date, cases tried from 2024 on fall under both sets of rules. The decline in yearly cases happened in the same period, and the records cannot show whether the law had any part in it.
What Is Missing
The records do not show how long each absence lasted, how it ended, or what the plea terms were. AWOL handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation does not appear in these court-martial records.
For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 86 on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Courts-martial in all three service groups with trial dates in 2021–2025 that charged Article 86 (221 cases). Coast Guard cases are not included.
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 86 (AWOL): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Offense (hub)
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- Army, Air Force, or Navy-Marine Corps: How Article 107 Cases Compare, 2021–2025
- Army, Air Force, or Navy-Marine Corps: How Article 117a Cases Compare, 2021–2025
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- Article 86 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.