Inside 22 Courts-Martial at Travis AFB, California, 2019–2023
From 2019–2023, Travis AFB, California held 22 courts-martial. Article 112a (drug offenses) appeared in 62% of the cases that list charges, higher than the 41% Air Force-wide.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Installation › Travis AFB, California › 2019–2023
Short answer: From 2019–2023, Travis AFB, California held 22 courts-martial. Article 112a (drug offenses) appeared in 62% of the cases that list charges, higher than the 41% Air Force-wide. After a conviction, the median confinement was 3 months, shorter than the 4-month median in the rest of the Air Force.
What Was Charged?
Charges are listed in 16 of the 22 records. 10 of those 16 included Article 112a, which covers wrongful use or possession of controlled substances. The 62% share here is higher than the 41% share in the whole Air Force.
Next was Article 120 (rape and sexual assault), with 3 cases (19%). Air Force-wide, that share was 11%. Article 121 (larceny) was in 2 cases (12%); the service-wide share was 4%. Article 134 (the general article) and Article 128 (assault) were in 2 cases each. Both shares were lower than the Air Force figures of 21% and 19%. Since an article counts once per case, 1 case can sit in several rows of the table.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the whole Air Force docket |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 10 | 62% | 41% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 3 | 19% | 11% |
| Art. 134 General article | 2 | 12% | 21% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 2 | 12% | 19% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 2 | 12% | 4% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 1 | 6% | 7% |
| Art. 82 Soliciting | 1 | 6% | 1% |
| Art. 93a Prohibited activities with recruit or trainee | 1 | 6% | 0% |
Full Acquittals and Pleas
Of the 22 cases, 6 ended with the accused acquitted of all charges. That is 27%, higher than the 24% Air Force-wide. Older Air Force records, from 2016 to 2019, rarely list the plea when the accused pleaded guilty. This page therefore divides full acquittals by all cases, including guilty pleas.
A plea is listed in 19 records: 11 guilty pleas and 8 contested cases. In a contested case, the accused pleaded not guilty to at least 1 charge. Travis had a 42% contested share. The Air Force had 50%.
Confinement in All 16 Convictions
Each of the 16 convictions at Travis included confinement. The median term was 3 months. Across the Air Force, the median was 4 months. At the long end, a quarter of the sentences were 1.5 years or longer.
The figures are adjudged sentences, meaning the sentence the court announced. Any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal came later and is not reflected. One sentence covers all the charges in a case, so a case with a drug charge and a second offense has 1 combined sentence.
Who Decided Guilt?
In most cases, the accused picks between a military judge alone and a panel of members. Members decided 36% of the Travis cases with the forum listed. That was 4 enlisted panels and 4 officer panels. The other 14 cases went to a military judge alone. Guilty pleas make up most judge-alone cases, so the judge-alone share tends to track the guilty-plea share.
Punitive Discharges and Dismissals
Bad-conduct discharges and dishonorable discharges are the 2 punitive discharges for enlisted members. Of 14 convicted enlisted members, 8 got one: 5 bad-conduct and 3 dishonorable. That is 57%. For the Air Force, the figure was 56%.
Of 2 convicted officers or warrant officers, 1 received a dismissal, which is the officer form of a punitive discharge. Members whose sentence had no punitive discharge can still face an administrative separation later.
Rank and Court Level
55% of the accused were junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4). Across the Air Force, the share was 64%. NCOs were 32% of the accused, and officers were 14%.
There were 13 general courts-martial and 9 special courts-martial, so the general share was 59%. In the Air Force as a whole, it was 53%. Any lawful sentence is available at a general court-martial. At a special court-martial, confinement is capped at one year and a dishonorable discharge is not available.
Comparison With 2016–2018
There were 21 Travis cases in 2016–2018, about 7 a year, and about 4 a year in 2019–2023 (full years only). Here is how 4 measures compare, earlier period first. Median confinement: 45 days, then 3 months. Convictions with confinement: 81%, then 100%. Punitive discharges for convicted enlisted members: 36%, then 57%. General court-martial share: 38%, then 59%.
No contested share is shown for 2016–2018, because the Air Force records of those years rarely list guilty pleas. Groups this small can change by several points with a few cases, so read these as direction, not precision.
| 2016–2018 | 2019–2023 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 21 | 22 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | — | 42% |
| Convictions with confinement | 81% | 100% |
| Median confinement | 45 days | 3 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 36% | 57% |
| General courts-martial | 38% | 59% |
JB Charleston and Barksdale AFB
In these years, JB Charleston, South Carolina tried 22 Air Force cases and Barksdale AFB, Louisiana tried 23. Contested shares were 47% at JB Charleston, 42% at Travis, and 40% at Barksdale.
JB Charleston had the longest median confinement, 5 months. Travis had 3 months and Barksdale 2 months. Enlisted punitive discharge rates were 57% at Travis, 56% at Barksdale, and 44% at JB Charleston.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Travis AFB, California | 22 | 42% | 5 of 8 | 3 months | 57% |
| JB Charleston, South Carolina | 22 | 47% | 4 of 8 | 5 months | 44% |
| Barksdale AFB, Louisiana | 23 | 40% | 4 of 8 | 2 months | 56% |
Cases by Year and What the Records Do Not Show
Trials took place from March 2019 through October 2023. By year: 2019: 2, 2020: 6, 2021: 4, 2022: 5, 2023: 5. The 22 cases are 2% of the 1,361 Air Force courts-martial in those years.
Trial dates are in the records, but offense dates are not. Nonjudicial punishment and administrative separations are not included. Air Force records never report plea agreements, rarely list charges in full acquittals, and do not describe the evidence.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial in the data tried at Travis AFB, California with a trial date in 2019–2023 (22 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
- Travis AFB, California: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Air Force Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- By Installation (hub)
- Travis AFB, California Courts-Martial, 2016–2018: What 21 Cases Show (another period)
- What Was Tried at JB Charleston, South Carolina, 2019–2023? 22 Courts-Martial (same years, similar size)
- Inside 23 Courts-Martial at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, 2019–2023 (same years, similar size)
- Drug Cases at Travis AFB, California: 2016–2018 vs. 2019–2022
- 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
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Travis AFB, California, 2019–2023
- Elijah F. Brown
- Colin P. Eichenberger
- Christina M. Jimenez
- James E. Key III
- Brett A. Landry
- Andrew R. Norton
- Jennifer E. Powell
- Rebecca E. Schmidt
- Christopher M. Schumann
- Matthew P. Stoffel
- Jill M. Thomas
- Brian Michael Thompson
- Charles G. Warren
- 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.