Fort Bragg and Fort Bliss, 2024–2026: How Their Courts-Martial Compare
Fort Bragg and Fort Bliss each tried about the same number of Army cases from 2024–2026: 85 and 84.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Installation › Fort Bragg › vs. Fort Bliss
Short answer: Fort Bragg and Fort Bliss each tried about the same number of Army cases from 2024–2026: 85 and 84. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) was charged in 20% of Fort Bragg cases, against 4% at Fort Bliss, and 48% of contested cases that reached a verdict at Fort Bragg ended in a full acquittal (10 of 21), against 30% at Fort Bliss.
Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Charges
83 of the 85 Fort Bragg records list the charges. Each article counts once per case.
Article 128b (domestic violence) was the most common charge at Fort Bragg, in 34% of cases, compared with 17% at Fort Bliss. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) appeared in 20% of Fort Bragg cases and 4% of Fort Bliss cases.
Article 128 (assault) was less common at Fort Bragg: 18% against 22%. Article 115 (communicating threats) appeared in 10% of Fort Bragg cases and 0% of Fort Bliss cases. Article 133 (conduct unbecoming an officer) appeared in 7% and 0%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, Fort Bliss |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 28 | 34% | 17% |
| Art. 134 General article | 19 | 23% | 16% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 17 | 20% | 4% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 15 | 18% | 22% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 9 | 11% | 4% |
| Art. 115 Communicating threats | 8 | 10% | 0% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 7 | 8% | 5% |
| Art. 133 Conduct unbecoming an officer | 6 | 7% | 0% |
Full Acquittals in 10 of 21 Decided Contested Cases
A contested case is one with a not-guilty or mixed plea. Of 21 contested cases with a verdict at Fort Bragg, 10 ended in a full acquittal (48%). The Fort Bliss rate was 30%, or 3 of 10.
Another 10 Fort Bragg cases (48%) were partial acquittals: not guilty of at least one charge or specification, but guilty of another. Army results list findings charge by charge, so partial acquittals are common in Army records.
Pleas and Plea Agreements
Fort Bragg had 64 guilty pleas and 21 not-guilty or mixed pleas, so 25% of cases were contested. At Fort Bliss, the contested share was 12%.
61 of the 64 guilty pleas are recorded with a plea agreement, and 3 have no entry. Army records say whether an agreement existed, not what it said.
Guilty pleas varied by charge. Cases charging Article 128b ended in a guilty plea 71% of the time (20 of 28), the most among the top charges. Cases charging Article 120 ended in a guilty plea 18% of the time (3 of 17). The records do not say why an accused pleaded guilty or contested.
Conviction Shares by Charge
Article 128b most often ended in a conviction on that article: 24 of 28 cases (86%), with a median confinement of 6 months. Article 134 (the general article) ended in a conviction in 14 of 19 cases (74%), with a median of 1.7 years.
Article 120 ended in a conviction on that article in 6 of 17 cases (35%), the lowest share among the top charges. Those 6 convictions carried a median confinement of 2.3 years. Article 128 ended in a conviction in 9 of 15 cases (60%), with a median of 11 months. One case can include a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another, so the rows overlap.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 28 | 24 (86%) | 6 months |
| Art. 134 General article | 19 | 14 (74%) | 1.7 years |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 17 | 6 (35%) | 2.3 years |
| Art. 128 Assault | 15 | 9 (60%) | 11 months |
Confinement Was Longer at Fort Bragg
Fort Bragg had 73 convictions, and 61 included confinement. The median confinement was 8 months, longer than the 6 months at Fort Bliss.
Sentences of more than one year made up 32% of Fort Bragg convictions (23 of 73), against 27% at Fort Bliss. 16% of Fort Bragg convictions carried no confinement, against 24% at Fort Bliss.
These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, Fort Bliss in the same years |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 12 | 16% | 24% |
| Under 6 months | 26 | 36% | 37% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 12 | 16% | 12% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 16 | 22% | 17% |
| 5 years or more | 7 | 10% | 10% |
Discharges for Enlisted Members and Officers
Among 65 enlisted members convicted at Fort Bragg, 48 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (74%), about the same as the 71% at Fort Bliss. 11 of those were dishonorable.
8 convicted officers or warrant officers appear in the Fort Bragg records, and 6 were dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Rank, Court Level, and Forum
Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) made up 42% of the accused at Fort Bragg, NCOs 45%, and officers 13%. At Fort Bliss, junior enlisted members were 70%.
59 of the 84 Fort Bragg cases with a court level listed were general courts-martial (70%), against 65% at Fort Bliss. The general courts-martial produced a median confinement of 1.3 years, and 34% were contested. The 25 special courts-martial produced a median of 2 months, and 0% were contested. The court level is not listed for 1 case.
Members heard 15% of Fort Bragg cases with the forum listed: 9 enlisted panels and 3 officer panels. The other 69 were judge alone. Among contested cases, members heard 12 of 17 (71%).
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Bragg | 85 | 25% | 10 of 21 | 8 months | 74% |
| Fort Bliss | 84 | 12% | 3 of 10 | 6 months | 71% |
Years Covered and the 2023 Changes
The records run from January 2024 to September 2026. By year: 2024: 34, 2025: 29, 2026: 22. The 2026 count is a partial year.
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. For offenses after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters when every guilty finding falls after that date. The records give no offense dates, so both old-rule and new-rule cases appear here.
What Is Missing
The records list charges, pleas, findings, and sentences. They do not show the evidence, the plea terms, or conduct handled outside a court-martial.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at Fort Bragg (85) and Fort Bliss (84) with trial dates in 2024–2026. Each figure for Fort Bragg is set beside the same figure for Fort Bliss.
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
- Fort Bragg: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Fort Bliss: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Installation (hub)
- Camp Humphreys and Fort Riley, 2024–2026: How Their Courts-Martial Compare
- Comparing Fort Hood and Fort Campbell: Army Courts-Martial, 2024–2026
- Comparing Fort Leonard Wood and Fort Benning: Army Courts-Martial, 2024–2026
- Comparing Fort Polk and Fort Knox: Army Courts-Martial, 2020–2023
- Comparing Fort Riley and Fort Benning: Army Courts-Martial, 2020–2023
- Comparing Fort Sill and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson: Army Courts-Martial, 2020–2023
- Comparing Fort Stewart and Kaiserslautern (Europe): Army Courts-Martial, 2024–2026
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Fort Bragg, 2024–2026
- Gregory B. Batdorff
- Robyn M. Chatwood
- John H. Cook
- Jerrod B. Fussnecker
- Willie F. Gore
- Tyler J. Heimann
- Benjamin W. Hillner
- Thomas P. Hynes
- Pamela L. Jones
- Michael E. Korte
- Corey J. Mackinnon
- Sasha N. Rutizer
Names and links only. Each judge's record of pleas, findings, and sentences is on their Know Your Judge page, part of the Court-Martial Characters membership.
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.