McConnell AFB, Kansas Courts-Martial, 2019–2023: What 24 Cases Show

Trends › By Installation › McConnell AFB, Kansas › 2019–2023

Based on 24 cases · 2019–2023 · Air Force records · data updated October 24, 2026

Drug Charges Were the Most Common

Article 112a covers wrongful use and possession of controlled substances. Charge lists cover 18 of the 24 McConnell cases, and 12 of them included Article 112a (67%). Across the Air Force, the share was 41%.

Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation), Article 128 (assault), and Article 134 (general article) each appeared in 4 cases (22%), about the same as their Air Force-wide shares. Article 107 (false official statements), Article 113 (drunken or reckless operation of a vehicle), and Article 128b (domestic violence) appeared in 2 cases each. Air Force records rarely list charges in full acquittals, so these charge counts mostly describe cases that ended in a conviction.

Every Conviction Included Confinement

Of 19 convictions, 19 included confinement. The median confinement was 4 months, the same as the 4-month median across the Air Force. A quarter of the sentences were 7 months or longer.

These are adjudged sentences, the sentences announced at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in its case. The records give no sentence detail by court level for this base.

Punitive Discharges Were More Common

For enlisted members, a punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. For officers, the equivalent is dismissal. At McConnell, 65% of enlisted convictions included a punitive discharge: 9 bad-conduct and 2 dishonorable. Across the Air Force as a whole, the share was 56%.

The records list 2 convicted officers or warrant officers, and 1 was sentenced to dismissal. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

More Contested Cases, Fewer Full Acquittals

A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. Only 14 of the 24 records list a plea: 6 guilty pleas and 8 contested cases. The contested share was 57%, compared with 50% across the Air Force.

Of all 24 cases, 4 ended in a full acquittal (17%), compared with 24% Air Force-wide. That rate uses every case as its base, not only contested cases. Air Force records from 2016 to 2019 rarely list the plea when the accused pleaded guilty.

Judges and Panels

A military judge alone decided guilt in 16 cases. Enlisted panels decided 5, and officer panels decided 3. Members heard 33% of cases, compared with 38% across the Air Force. Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas, so this split mostly follows how many cases were contested.

Who Was Tried, and at What Level

Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) were 71% of the accused, NCOs 21%, and officers 8%. Across the Air Force as a whole, junior enlisted members were 64%.

General courts-martial were 38% of the cases (9 of 24). Special courts-martial were the rest. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.

Compared With 2016–2018

In 2016–2018, McConnell had 18 cases, about 6 a year. Since then, it has had about 5 a year, counting full years only. The median confinement went from 3 months to 4 months. Convictions with confinement went from 94% to 100%. General courts-martial went from 33% to 38% of cases.

The largest change was in punitive discharges. The enlisted punitive discharge share went from 47% to 65%. In small groups, a few cases either way can change this figure. It shows a direction, not a precise measurement, and the records cannot show why it changed.

Air Force Bases of a Similar Size

Offutt AFB, Nebraska (24 cases) and Barksdale AFB, Louisiana (23 cases) tried a similar number of cases in the same years. The contested share was 17% at Offutt and 40% at Barksdale, compared with 57% at McConnell. The median confinement was 4 months at Offutt and 2 months at Barksdale. Their enlisted punitive discharge shares were 67% and 56%.

The McConnell cases were tried from February 2019 through December 2023: 10 in 2019, 5 in 2020, 2 in 2021, 5 in 2022, and 2 in 2023. That is 2% of the 1,361 Air Force courts-martial in those years.

Outside the Court-Martial Record

These records cover only cases that reached a court-martial. Nonjudicial punishment, administrative separations, and cases with no action are not included. The evidence, the plea terms, and offense dates are not included either. Air Force records never report plea agreements.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: 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.