What Wheeler Army Airfield Tried in 2021
Wheeler Army Airfield held 30 courts-martial in 2021. The median confinement was 1.1 years, compared with 6 months across the Army. 55% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge, compared with 70% Army-wide, and 25 of the 30 cases were general courts-martial.
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Trends › By Installation › Wheeler Army Airfield › 2021
Short answer: Wheeler Army Airfield held 30 courts-martial in 2021. The median confinement was 1.1 years, compared with 6 months across the Army. 55% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge, compared with 70% Army-wide, and 25 of the 30 cases were general courts-martial.
Median Confinement Was 1.1 Years
79% of the 24 convictions included confinement. The median confinement was 1.1 years, compared with a 6-month median for all Army cases. A quarter of the sentences were 2 years or longer. These are adjudged sentences. They are the sentences announced at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and they cover every charge in a case.
10 of 24 convictions (42%) had confinement longer than one year, compared with 26% Army-wide. 29% had confinement of more than 1 year but under 5 years, compared with 18%. 12% had 5 years or more, compared with 8%. Sentences under 6 months were less common: 25% here, compared with 37%.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the whole Army docket |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 5 | 21% | 19% |
| Under 6 months | 6 | 25% | 37% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 3 | 12% | 17% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 7 | 29% | 18% |
| 5 years or more | 3 | 12% | 8% |
Most Cases Were General Courts-Martial
General courts-martial heard 25 of the 30 cases (83%), compared with 73% for all Army cases. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial can adjudge no more than one year of confinement and no dishonorable discharge.
The accused were more senior than in the Army as a whole. There were 14 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 14 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 2 officers or warrant officers. Across the Army, 58% of the accused were junior enlisted.
Assault and Sexual Assault Charges
29 records list charges. Assault (Article 128) appeared in 12 cases (41%), compared with 38% Army-wide. Rape and sexual assault (Article 120) appeared in 8 cases (28%), compared with 29%. Attempts (Article 80) appeared in 14%, compared with 9%.
Some charges were less common. The general article (Article 134) appeared in 14% of cases, compared with 21%. Drug offenses (Article 112a) appeared in 10%, compared with 12%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, all Army cases in those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 12 | 41% | 38% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 8 | 28% | 29% |
| Art. 134 General article | 4 | 14% | 21% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 4 | 14% | 9% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 4 | 14% | 16% |
| Art. 90 Willfully disobeying superior officer | 3 | 10% | 8% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 3 | 10% | 12% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 2 | 7% | 8% |
Convictions on the Most Common Charges
9 of 12 Article 128 cases ended in a conviction on that article (75%). The median confinement for those convictions was 2.2 years. 4 of 8 Article 120 cases ended in a conviction on that article, with a median of 4.9 years. A case can include a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another, so these rows overlap.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 12 | 9 (75%) | 2.2 years |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 8 | 4 (4 of 8) | 4.9 years |
Pleas and Plea Agreements
16 accused pleaded guilty, and 14 contested. A contested case is one with a not-guilty plea to at least one charge. The contested share was 47%, higher than the 36% across the Army.
13 of the 16 guilty pleas are recorded with a plea agreement, and 3 have no entry. Army records show whether there was an agreement, not what it said.
Results in Contested Cases
13 contested cases reached a verdict. 5 ended in a full acquittal (38%), and 6 ended in a partial acquittal (46%). A partial acquittal means not guilty of at least one charge or specification but guilty of another. The full-acquittal rate was slightly higher than the 35% Army-wide.
Army results list findings charge by charge, so partial acquittals are common in Army records.
Who Decided Guilt?
The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. At Wheeler, a military judge alone heard 22 cases. Members heard 7: 6 enlisted panels and 1 officer panel. That is 24% of cases with the forum listed.
Members heard 7 of 13 contested cases (54%). Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas, so the overall split mostly follows the number of contested cases.
Punitive Discharges
55% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge: 4 bad-conduct discharges and 8 dishonorable discharges. Across the Army, the share was 70%. Neither of the 2 convicted officers or warrant officers was sentenced to dismissal. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Fort Bliss and Fort Carson
Fort Bliss and Fort Carson also held 30 cases each in 2021. At Fort Bliss, 33% of cases were contested, 3 of 10 contested cases with a verdict ended in a full acquittal, the median confinement was 7 months, and the punitive discharge rate was 73%. At Fort Carson, 20% were contested, 1 of 6 ended in a full acquittal, the median was 9 months, and the punitive discharge rate was 86%.
Wheeler had the highest contested share and the longest median confinement of the 3. It had the lowest punitive discharge rate.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wheeler Army Airfield | 30 | 47% | 5 of 13 | 1.1 years | 55% |
| Fort Bliss | 30 | 33% | 3 of 10 | 7 months | 73% |
| Fort Carson | 30 | 20% | 1 of 6 | 9 months | 86% |
Records and Limits
The services were required to begin publishing trial records under Article 140a by December 2020. Army records in this data are sparse before 2021. Cases resolved by nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action are not included, and the records do not describe the evidence or the plea terms.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at Wheeler Army Airfield with a trial date in 2021 (30 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
- Wheeler Army Airfield: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- What Wheeler Army Airfield Tried in 2022 (previous / next)
- Wheeler Army Airfield, 2020–2023: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 75 Cases (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 Wheeler Army Airfield, 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.