RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom Courts-Martial, 2019–2023: What 20 Cases Show
From 2019 to 2023, 20 cases at RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom reached a court-martial. Article 128 (assault) appeared in 60% of the cases with charge lists, compared with 19% across the Air Force.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Installation › RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom › 2019–2023
Short answer: From 2019 to 2023, 20 cases at RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom reached a court-martial. Article 128 (assault) appeared in 60% of the cases with charge lists, compared with 19% across the Air Force. The median adjudged confinement was 8 months, compared with 4 months in the rest of the Air Force.
Assault and Orders Charges Were More Common
Article 128 (assault) appears in 60% of the RAF Mildenhall cases with charges listed, compared with 19% in all Air Force cases in those years. Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation) appears in 47%, compared with 16% service-wide.
Those shares use 15 of the 20 cases, because the other records do not list charges. A single case can count under several articles. A case charging assault and an orders violation counts in both rows.
Some other articles also appear more often here than across the Air Force, though the counts are very small. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) appears in 20%, compared with 11%. Article 128b (domestic violence) appears in 13%, compared with 5%. Article 86 (absence without leave) appears in 13%, compared with 5%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, all Air Force cases in those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 9 | 60% | 19% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 7 | 47% | 16% |
| Art. 134 General article | 4 | 27% | 21% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 3 | 20% | 11% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 2 | 13% | 6% |
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 2 | 13% | 5% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 2 | 13% | 5% |
| Art. 113 Misbehavior of a sentinel before 2019, drunken or reckless driving since | 1 | 7% | 4% |
Longer Confinement Than the Service Median
93% of the 15 convictions included confinement. The median confinement was 8 months, compared with 4 months in the rest of the Air Force. A quarter of the sentences were 2.6 years or longer.
These are adjudged sentences: what the court imposed at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each one covers every charge in a case, so a long sentence may cover several offenses, not one.
General and Special Courts-Martial
Mildenhall had 10 general courts-martial and 10 special courts-martial. That 50% general share is about the same as the 53% across all Air Force cases.
A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial is capped at one year of confinement and can impose a bad-conduct discharge but not a dishonorable discharge.
At Mildenhall, the general courts-martial had a median confinement of 2 years. The special courts-martial had a median of 5 months.
Punitive Discharges After Conviction
Of 15 convicted enlisted members, 11 received a punitive discharge (73%): 5 bad-conduct discharges and 6 dishonorable discharges. In the rest of the Air Force, the rate was 56%.
A punitive discharge is part of the sentence imposed by the court. A sentence without one does not rule out a later administrative separation, which these records do not show.
Pleas and Full Acquittals
A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. Of the 14 records that list a plea, 7 were guilty pleas and 7 were contested. That 50% contested share is the same as the 50% across the Air Force in the same years.
5 of the 20 cases ended in a full acquittal (25%). Across the Air Force, the rate was 24%. Air Force records from 2016 to 2019 rarely list a guilty plea. For that reason, this rate is measured against all cases, not only contested ones.
Judges, Panels, and the Accused
A military judge alone decided guilt in 11 cases. Enlisted panels heard 3 and officer panels heard 5. Members heard 42% of the cases with a forum listed, compared with 38% across the Air Force. The accused usually chooses between a judge and a panel. Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas.
By rank, the accused were 13 junior enlisted members, 7 NCOs, and 0 officers. That mix is similar to all Air Force cases.
Cases by Year and Similar Installations
The 20 cases were tried from January 2019 through November 2023: 5 in 2019, 3 in 2020, 7 in 2021, 2 in 2022, and 3 in 2023. Together they are 1% of the 1,361 Air Force courts-martial in those years.
USAF Academy, Colorado and FE Warren AFB, Wyoming tried a similar number of cases in the same years. Both had a median confinement of 4 months, lower than the 8 months at Mildenhall. The punitive discharge rate for enlisted convictions was 73% here, compared with 7% at the Academy and 64% at FE Warren. The Academy had 75% of its cases contested, compared with 50% at Mildenhall.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom | 20 | 50% | 1 of 7 | 8 months | 73% |
| USAF Academy, Colorado | 20 | 75% | 3 of 9 | 4 months | 7% |
| FE Warren AFB, Wyoming | 21 | 44% | 5 of 7 | 4 months | 64% |
What the Records Cannot Show
Trial records show charges, pleas, findings, and sentences. They give trial dates, not offense dates. They do not show the evidence, the terms of any plea agreement, or misconduct handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation. Air Force records also rarely list charges in full acquittals and do not report plea agreements, so some figures above are based on incomplete records.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial in the data tried at RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom with a trial date in 2019–2023 (20 cases), compared with all 1,361 Air Force trials in those years. Dates are trial dates.
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
- Air Force Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- By Installation (hub)
- USAF Academy, Colorado Courts-Martial, 2019–2023: What 20 Cases Show (same years, similar size)
- What Was Tried at FE Warren AFB, Wyoming, 2019–2023? 21 Courts-Martial (same years, similar size)
- Andersen AFB, Guam Courts-Martial, 2016–2018: What 13 Cases Show
- Aviano AB, Italy Courts-Martial, 2016–2018: What 16 Cases Show
- Aviano AB, Italy, 2019–2023: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 17 Cases
- Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, 2016–2018: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 27 Cases
- Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona Courts-Martial, 2019–2023: What 29 Cases Show
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom, 2019–2023
- Willie J. Babor
- Colin P. Eichenberger
- Mark W. Milam
- Sterling C. Pendleton
- Lance R. Smith
- Bryan D. Watson
- Charles E. Wiedie Jr.
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.