Inside 23 Courts-Martial at Vandenberg SFB, California, 2016–2018
Vandenberg SFB, California held 23 courts-martial from 2016 to 2018. Drug offenses (Article 112a) were charged in 79% of cases with charges listed, compared with 48% across the Air Force.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Installation › Vandenberg SFB, California › 2016–2018
Short answer: Vandenberg SFB, California held 23 courts-martial from 2016 to 2018. Drug offenses (Article 112a) were charged in 79% of cases with charges listed, compared with 48% across the Air Force. The median confinement was 8 months, compared with 4 months Air Force-wide, and 79% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge.
Drug Charges Were the Most Common
Article 112a covers wrongful use and possession of controlled substances. Of the 23 records, 19 list charges, and Article 112a is in 15 of those 19. That is 79%, compared with 48% in Air Force courts-martial overall in those years.
Article 134 (the general article) was also charged more often here: 32% compared with 25%. Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation) appeared in 21% of cases. Article 128 (assault) appeared in 5% of cases, lower than the 11% in the rest of the Air Force. 1 case can appear under several articles, so the shares overlap.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the rest of the Air Force |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 15 | 79% | 48% |
| Art. 134 General article | 6 | 32% | 25% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 4 | 21% | 16% |
| Art. 111 Drunken or reckless driving | 2 | 11% | 4% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 2 | 11% | 7% |
| Art. 120c Other sexual misconduct | 1 | 5% | 2% |
| Art. 83 Fraudulent enlistment | 1 | 5% | 1% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 1 | 5% | 11% |
Median Confinement Was 8 Months
95% of the 19 convictions included confinement. The median confinement was 8 months. Across all Air Force cases in the same years, the median was 4 months. A quarter of the sentences were 1 year or longer.
The figures are adjudged sentences: the sentences the court announced at trial. Any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal came later. A sentence covers all the charges in a case, not only the drug offense.
General and Special Courts-Martial
Sentences differed by court level. At general courts-martial, 9 of 9 convictions included confinement, and the median was 1 year. At special courts-martial, 90% of convictions included confinement, and the median was 4 months.
The 2 court levels have different limits. At a general court-martial, any lawful sentence is available, up to long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. At a special court-martial, confinement is capped at one year, and the only punitive discharge available is a bad-conduct discharge. Of the 23 cases, 10 were general courts-martial (43%). The rest were special courts-martial.
Punitive Discharges
79% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge: 12 bad-conduct discharges and 3 dishonorable discharges. Across the Air Force, the share was 55%.
Enlisted members can receive 2 kinds of punitive discharge: bad-conduct and dishonorable. Officers receive a dismissal instead. Members whose sentence had no punitive discharge can still be administratively separated later, and administrative separations are outside these records.
How Many Cases Ended in a Full Acquittal?
4 of the 23 cases ended in a full acquittal (17%). Across Air Force courts-martial in those years, the share was 20%.
The base for this rate is every case, including guilty pleas. In 2016 to 2019, Air Force records rarely list a plea of guilty, so the number of contested cases is unknown and a contested-case rate is not possible for these years.
Rank of the Accused and Who Decided Guilt
83% of the accused were junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4). In the rest of the Air Force, the share was 63%. NCOs made up 17% of the accused, and officers made up 0%.
In most cases, the accused picks between a military judge alone and a panel of members to decide guilt. At Vandenberg, 15 cases went to a military judge alone. Officer panels heard 6, and an enlisted panel heard 1. That puts 32% of cases before members, lower than the 45% for all Air Force cases.
FE Warren AFB and Whiteman AFB
FE Warren AFB, Wyoming and Whiteman AFB, Missouri each held 23 Air Force cases in the same years. Both had a shorter median confinement: 5 months at FE Warren and 6 months at Whiteman, compared with 8 months at Vandenberg.
Both also had a lower punitive discharge rate for convicted enlisted members: 44% at FE Warren and 63% at Whiteman, compared with 79% at Vandenberg.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vandenberg SFB, California | 23 | — | — | 8 months | 79% |
| FE Warren AFB, Wyoming | 23 | — | — | 5 months | 44% |
| Whiteman AFB, Missouri | 23 | — | — | 6 months | 63% |
Case Counts and the 2019 Rule Changes
The cases were tried from February 2016 through December 2018: 2 in 2016, 12 in 2017, and 9 in 2018. They are 2% of the 991 Air Force courts-martial in those years.
Every case here was tried under the rules in place before January 1, 2019, when the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect. That law brought fixed panel sizes, written plea agreements, and a new judge-alone special court-martial, which is capped at six months of confinement and cannot adjudge a punitive discharge. These cases were tried before any of that applied.
What the Records Do Not Show
Trial records show charges, pleas, findings, and sentences. They do not show the evidence or the plea terms. Air Force records rarely list charges in full acquittals and never report plea agreements. Nonjudicial punishment and administrative separations are not included. The records give trial dates, not offense dates.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial in the data tried at Vandenberg SFB, California with a trial date in 2016–2018 (23 cases), compared with all 991 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)
- FE Warren AFB, Wyoming Courts-Martial, 2016–2018: What 23 Cases Show (same years, similar size)
- Inside 23 Courts-Martial at Whiteman AFB, Missouri, 2016–2018 (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 Vandenberg SFB, California, 2016–2018
- John C. Degnan
- Patricia A. Gruen
- Joseph S. Imburgia
- Christina M. Jimenez
- Andrew Kalavanos
- Richard D. Mink
- Jennifer E. Powell
- Natalie D. Richardson
- Rebecca E. Schmidt
- Shelly W. Schools
- Christopher M. Schumann
- Vance H. Spath
- Tiffany M. Wagner
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.