Wheeler Army Airfield vs. Fort Knox: Two Army Installations Side by Side, 2024–2026
Wheeler Army Airfield had 54 courts-martial from 2024–2026, and Fort Knox had 52. 80% of convicted enlisted members at Wheeler received a punitive discharge, compared with 26% at Fort Knox. The median confinement was 9 months at Wheeler and 2 months at Fort Knox.
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Short answer: Wheeler Army Airfield had 54 courts-martial from 2024–2026, and Fort Knox had 52. 80% of convicted enlisted members at Wheeler received a punitive discharge, compared with 26% at Fort Knox. The median confinement was 9 months at Wheeler and 2 months at Fort Knox.
Punitive Discharges Were More Common at Wheeler
40 enlisted members were convicted at Wheeler, and 32 of them received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (80%). These two discharges are the punitive discharges available for enlisted members. At Fort Knox, the share was 26%. 14 of the 32 Wheeler discharges were dishonorable.
5 convicted officers or warrant officers appear in the Wheeler records, and 2 were dismissed. Dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. When a sentence has no punitive discharge, an administrative separation can still follow.
Mostly General Courts-Martial at Wheeler
Wheeler had 46 general and 8 special courts-martial. The general share was 85%, compared with 35% at Fort Knox. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including more than a year of confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial is limited to one year and cannot order a dishonorable discharge.
Among the accused, 31 were junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 18 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 5 were officers or warrant officers. At Fort Knox, 12% of the accused were junior enlisted, so the Wheeler group was more junior.
Confinement After Conviction
45 Wheeler cases ended in a conviction, and confinement was part of 89% of those sentences. The median was 9 months. At Fort Knox, it was 2 months. A quarter of the Wheeler sentences were 2.5 years or longer.
17 of 45 Wheeler convictions (38%) carried more than one year, compared with 13% at Fort Knox. Sentences of more than 1 year but under 5 years were 33% at Wheeler and 9% at Fort Knox. Sentences under 6 months were 36% at Wheeler and 56% at Fort Knox.
The figures are adjudged sentences from the trial. Any later plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal is not reflected, and each sentence covers every charge in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, Fort Knox |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 5 | 11% | 20% |
| Under 6 months | 16 | 36% | 56% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 7 | 16% | 11% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 15 | 33% | 9% |
| 5 years or more | 2 | 4% | 4% |
Charges at the Two Installations
All 54 Wheeler records list the charges. A case with three articles counts under all three. Article 128b, domestic violence, was the most common charge, in 15 cases (28%), compared with 19% at Fort Knox.
Article 80, attempts, appeared in 20% of Wheeler cases and 6% of Fort Knox cases. Article 120, rape and sexual assault, appeared in 15% of Wheeler cases and 0% of Fort Knox cases. Article 128, assault, appeared in 17% and 8%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, Fort Knox |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 15 | 28% | 19% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 11 | 20% | 6% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 9 | 17% | 8% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 8 | 15% | 0% |
| Art. 134 General article | 8 | 15% | 12% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 5 | 9% | 4% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 5 | 9% | 4% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 5 | 9% | 8% |
What Happened on Each Top Charge
Article 80 ended in a conviction on that article in 9 of 11 cases (82%), and Article 128b in 12 of 15 (80%). Article 128 did so in 5 of 9 cases. Article 120 had the lowest count: 2 of 8 cases ended in a conviction on that article.
When the conviction included Article 80, the median confinement was 2 years. It was 1.2 years for Article 120, 6 months for Article 128, and 4 months for Article 128b. Rows overlap, since a case can include a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 15 | 12 (80%) | 4 months |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 11 | 9 (82%) | 2 years |
| Art. 128 Assault | 9 | 5 (5 of 9) | 6 months |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 8 | 2 (2 of 8) | 1.2 years |
Pleas, Verdicts, and Who Decided Guilt
37 Wheeler cases ended in a guilty plea and 17 were contested, meaning the accused pleaded not guilty to at least one charge. The contested share was 31%, compared with 15% at Fort Knox. Plea agreements are recorded for 34 of the 37 guilty pleas, and 3 have no entry. Army records show only whether an agreement existed.
9 of 17 contested Wheeler cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (53%). At Fort Knox, 3 of 7 did. 6 more Wheeler cases were partial acquittals, in which the accused was found not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another. Army results list findings charge by charge, so partial acquittals appear often in Army records.
A military judge alone decided guilt in 38 of 52 Wheeler cases with the forum listed (73%). Members heard 14: 9 enlisted panels and 5 officer panels. Among contested cases, members heard 13 of 15 (87%). Cases charging Article 80 ended in a guilty plea 64% of the time (7 of 11), and cases charging Article 128b 53% of the time (8 of 15).
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wheeler Army Airfield | 54 | 31% | 9 of 17 | 9 months | 80% |
| Fort Knox | 52 | 15% | 3 of 7 | 2 months | 26% |
Cases per Year and the Post-2023 Rules
Wheeler had 18 cases in each of 2024, 2025, and 2026, with 2026 a partial year through September.
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. If every guilty finding in a case is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence under new sentencing parameters. Which rules applied depends on the offense date, and these records give only trial dates.
Limits of These Records
The trial records show charges, pleas, findings, and sentences. The evidence, the plea terms, and conduct handled outside a court-martial are not part of them.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at Wheeler Army Airfield (54) and Fort Knox (52) with trial dates in 2024–2026. Each figure for Wheeler Army Airfield is set beside the same figure for Fort Knox.
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)
- Fort Knox: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Installation (hub)
- Camp Humphreys and Fort Riley, 2024–2026: How Their Courts-Martial Compare
- Comparing Fort Hood and Fort Campbell: Army Courts-Martial, 2024–2026
- Comparing Fort Leonard Wood and Fort Benning: Army Courts-Martial, 2024–2026
- Comparing Fort Polk and Fort Knox: Army Courts-Martial, 2020–2023
- Comparing Fort Riley and Fort Benning: Army Courts-Martial, 2020–2023
- Comparing Fort Sill and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson: Army Courts-Martial, 2020–2023
- Comparing Fort Stewart and Kaiserslautern (Europe): Army Courts-Martial, 2024–2026
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Wheeler Army Airfield, 2024–2026
- Larry A. Babin Jr.
- James A. Ewing
- Rebecca L. Farrell
- Matthew S. Fitzgerald
- Tyler J. Heimann
- Mitchell D. Herniak
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.