A Year of Courts-Martial at Vilseck (Europe): 2021
Vilseck (Europe) had 18 courts-martial in 2021. The median confinement was 11 months, compared with 6 months across the Army. Of 16 convicted enlisted members, 12 received a punitive discharge (75%), compared with 70% in the rest of the Army.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 5 min read
Trends › By Installation › Vilseck (Europe) › 2021
Short answer: Vilseck (Europe) had 18 courts-martial in 2021. The median confinement was 11 months, compared with 6 months across the Army. Of 16 convicted enlisted members, 12 received a punitive discharge (75%), compared with 70% in the rest of the Army.
Confinement Nearly Always Followed a Conviction
Of 16 convictions, 15 carried confinement. The median confinement was 11 months, longer than the 6 months for all Army cases in 2021. Among the sentences that included confinement, a quarter were 1.8 years or longer.
These are adjudged sentences. They were set at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and each covers every charge in the case.
Punitive Discharges
Of 16 convicted enlisted members, 12 received a punitive discharge: 8 bad-conduct discharges and 4 dishonorable discharges. The share, 75%, is higher than the 70% in the rest of the Army.
A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Guilty Pleas and Plea Agreements
In 11 cases the accused pleaded guilty, and in 7 the accused contested at least one charge. The contested share, 39%, is close to the 36% across the Army.
Of the 11 guilty pleas, 10 are recorded with a plea agreement and 1 has no entry. Army records show whether an agreement existed, not its terms. Of the 7 contested cases that reached a verdict, 2 ended in a full acquittal.
Judge-Alone Trials
A military judge alone decided guilt in 15 of the 18 cases (83%). Enlisted panels heard the other 3, and no case went to an officer panel. The accused usually chooses between a military judge alone and a panel of members.
Assault and Sexual Assault Charges
All 18 records list the charges, and one case can count under several articles. Article 128 (assault) appeared in 7 cases (39%), about the same as the 38% Army-wide. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) appeared in 5 cases (28%), compared with 29%.
Article 121 (larceny) appeared in 3 cases (17%), compared with 8% across the Army. Article 80 (attempts) also appeared in 17%, compared with 9%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, Army-wide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 7 | 39% | 38% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 5 | 28% | 29% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 4 | 22% | 16% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 3 | 17% | 9% |
| Art. 134 General article | 3 | 17% | 21% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 3 | 17% | 8% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 2 | 11% | 12% |
| Art. 108 Military property; loss, damage, destruction | 2 | 11% | 3% |
Rank and Court Level
The accused were 9 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) and 9 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), with no officers or warrant officers. Across the Army, 58% of the accused were junior enlisted, so this group was more senior.
General courts-martial made up 13 of the 18 cases (72%). A general court-martial can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge, while a special court-martial caps confinement at one year.
Camp Humphreys and Fort Bliss
Camp Humphreys tried 23 cases and Fort Bliss tried 30 in 2021. Their median confinement was 3 months and 7 months, both shorter than at Vilseck. Camp Humphreys had a contested share of 52%, and 7 of its 12 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vilseck (Europe) | 18 | 39% | 2 of 7 | 11 months | 75% |
| Camp Humphreys | 23 | 52% | 7 of 12 | 3 months | 5 of 9 |
| Fort Bliss | 30 | 33% | 3 of 10 | 7 months | 73% |
Record Coverage and Limits
The services were required to begin publishing trial records under Article 140a by December 2020, and Army records in this data are sparse before 2021. The records cover only cases that reached a courtroom. They do not describe the evidence or plea terms, and they leave out nonjudicial punishment and administrative separations.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at Vilseck (Europe) with a trial date in 2021 (18 cases).
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
- Vilseck (Europe): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- What Vilseck (Europe) Tried in 2025 (previous / next)
- What Was Tried at Vilseck (Europe), 2020–2023? 43 Courts-Martial (the whole period)
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Camp Humphreys: 2024
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Camp Humphreys: 2025
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Fort Benning: 2022
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Fort Benning: 2023
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Fort Benning: 2025
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Vilseck (Europe), 2021
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.