What Is Article 15? Offenses, Punishments, and Court-Martial Choice

Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice is the tool commanders use to punish minor misconduct without sending a case to court-martial. Codified at 10 U.S.C. § 815, it goes by different names across the services: Article 15 in the Army and Air Force, Captain’s Mast in the Navy and Coast Guard, and Office Hours in the Marine Corps.¹ The punishment is administrative, not criminal. You won’t come out of it with a federal conviction. But the consequences reach further than most service members expect, and the decisions you make in the first few days matter more than anything that happens at the hearing itself.

What Counts as an Article 15 Offense

The statute limits non-judicial punishment to “minor offenses” and leaves the term undefined.¹ In practice, commanders weigh how serious the misconduct was, whether the service member is likely to correct course, and what response the unit needs to see. Common Article 15 conduct includes chronic lateness, minor insubordination, failing to follow a low-stakes lawful order, and minor property damage.

Serious felonies generally don’t belong in the Article 15 process, but commanders have wide discretion. What one commander disposes of with non-judicial punishment, another may refer to court-martial. There is also a time limit: non-judicial punishment cannot be imposed for offenses committed more than two years before the date of imposition, unless the service member knowingly waives that protection.²

The Three Tiers and What Each Commander Can Impose

Service regulations, built on top of the statute, sort Article 15 proceedings into three tiers keyed to the rank of the imposing officer. The higher the rank, the heavier the available penalties. The numbers below reflect Army regulations, which are the most frequently cited; other branches follow the same structure with some variation.

Summarized Article 15. The lowest level, typically handled by a company-grade commander. Punishments are capped at 14 days of extra duty, 14 days of restriction, and a reprimand. No forfeiture of pay or rank reduction is available.
Company grade Article 15. Imposed by a captain or equivalent. Up to 14 days of extra duty, 14 days of restriction, forfeiture of seven days’ pay, and a one-grade reduction for members in the grade of E-4 and below. E-5 and E-6 cannot be reduced in rank at this level.
Field grade Article 15. Imposed by a major, lieutenant commander, or higher officer. Up to 45 days of extra duty, 45 days of restriction (or 60 days of restriction if no extra duty is imposed), forfeiture of half a month’s pay for two months, and rank reduction. E-4 and below can be reduced by one or more grades; E-5 and E-6 can be reduced by one grade.¹

Two categories of punishment deserve a closer look because service members often confuse them. Forfeiture of pay is permanent; the money is gone. Detention of pay is temporary; the pay is withheld for a stated period and then returned.¹ Correctional custody, a form of physical restraint in a separate facility rather than a jail, is available only against enlisted members in the grade of E-3 and below (up to 7 days at the company grade level, up to 30 days at the field grade level).

The Biggest Decision: Accept the Article 15 or Demand a Court-Martial

This is the choice that shapes everything else. You can refuse the Article 15 and demand trial by court-martial instead. If you do, the commander cannot impose non-judicial punishment.¹ The case either goes to court-martial or gets dropped.

Demanding a court-martial raises the stakes in both directions. The government would have to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and you’d get a real trial with rules of evidence, a defense counsel, and a judge or panel. A conviction, though, becomes a federal criminal record. Many service members accept the Article 15 for exactly that reason: they’d rather absorb administrative punishment than gamble on a criminal trial.

There is one significant exception. If you are attached to or embarked on a vessel, you cannot refuse the Article 15.¹ Navy policy clarifies that this “vessel exception” applies only when the vessel is operational, not when it is in maintenance or pre-commissioning status.³ A ship in drydock for major repairs generally does not trigger the exception.

Your Rights in the Process

Article 15 is not a criminal prosecution, but the process still carries real protections, and the useful ones show up before the hearing.

You must be formally told what offense you’re accused of and shown the evidence. Under Article 31 of the UCMJ, you have the right to remain silent and cannot be compelled to make any statement that could incriminate you.⁴ You have the right to consult a military defense attorney through the Trial Defense Service, or to hire a civilian attorney at your own expense, before deciding how to respond. In the Air Force, service members typically have three duty days from notification to respond, with extensions possible.

The standard of proof is where Article 15 departs most sharply from a criminal trial. The commander need not find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The commander essentially determines whether it is more likely than not that you committed the offense.² The same person who initiated the proceedings makes the finding. There is no jury, no judge, and no courtroom rules of evidence.

The hearing itself is short. The commander presents the evidence; you respond. You can make an oral or written statement, call witnesses, and offer anything that explains the circumstances or argues for a lighter penalty. You are not required to say anything. The commander announces the finding and any punishment on the spot.

Appeals and Suspended Punishment

If you believe the punishment is unjust or disproportionate, you have five days from the date of imposition to file an appeal.² Miss that window without good cause and the right is gone. The appeal goes to the next higher authority in the chain of command, who can uphold the punishment, reduce it, or set it aside completely. You can generally be required to serve the punishment while the appeal is pending. If the appeal isn’t acted on within five days and you request it, any unexecuted punishment involving restraint or extra duty must be paused until a decision comes down.

A commander can also suspend all or part of the punishment. The punishment then hangs over you but doesn’t take effect unless you violate a condition. The default condition is committing no further UCMJ offense, and the commander can add written conditions. A suspension can last up to six months.² Stay clean and the punishment disappears. Violate a condition and the commander can vacate the suspension and impose the original punishment, though you’re entitled to notice and an opportunity to respond first.

How an Article 15 Follows You

The punishment itself is often the smallest part of the long-term picture.

Non-judicial punishment is not a criminal conviction under either military or civilian law, and it should not appear on a civilian criminal background check.⁵ You do not need to report it as a criminal conviction on job applications. Some employers and federal agencies do ask broader questions about disciplinary actions, and honest answers may require disclosure.

Security clearances are a different matter. Adjudicative guidelines list “criminal conduct” as a factor and look for patterns of disregarding rules and regulations.⁶ A single Article 15 for a minor offense may not sink a clearance on its own, particularly with evidence of rehabilitation. Multiple Article 15s, or one for a serious offense, can produce an unfavorable determination, which effectively ends most careers that depend on classified access.

Reenlistment and promotion are the next pressure points. In the Air Force, serving a suspended Article 15 punishment produces a reenlistment eligibility code of 4H, meaning you’re ineligible for immediate reenlistment but could enlist with an approved waiver.⁷ Promotion boards see the Article 15 in your file. Strong subsequent performance can offset a single incident, but you’re carrying a mark that competing service members aren’t.

The record itself sits in your official military personnel file. In the Army, it lands in the performance portion, where promotion and assignment boards see it. You can petition to transfer it to the restricted portion by showing that the document has served its purpose and that transfer serves the Army’s interest, and you’ll need at least one evaluation since the Article 15. Complete removal requires a petition to the Board for Correction of Military Records with clear and convincing evidence that the record is untrue or unjust.⁸ That bar is high, and most petitions are denied.

How Officers Are Treated Differently

The statute treats officers and enlisted members differently in important ways. Officers cannot be reduced in rank or given extra duty or correctional custody under Article 15. Available punishments for officers include restriction (up to 30 days from any commanding officer, or up to 60 days from a general court-martial authority), arrest in quarters for up to 30 days, forfeiture of up to half a month’s pay for two months, and detention of up to half a month’s pay for three months.¹ Any admonition or reprimand imposed on an officer as non-judicial punishment must be in writing.²

On paper, officer punishments look lighter than enlisted ones. In practice, the career impact is often worse. Enlisted members with strong records can frequently recover from a single Article 15 over time. Officers rarely do. The up-or-out promotion system means any significant blemish makes it hard to stay competitive, and a passed-over officer eventually faces involuntary separation.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 815 Art 15 – Commanding Officers Non-Judicial Punishment
2
Joint Service Committee. Part V of the Manual for Courts-Martial
3
Department of the Navy. Updated Policies Governing Article 15 UCMJ Proceedings
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 831 Art 31 – Compulsory Self-Incrimination Prohibited
5
Department of the Navy. Non-Judicial Punishment SOP
6
Center for Development of Security Excellence. Receive and Maintain Your National Security Eligibility
7
Air Force e-Publishing. Reenlistment and Extension of Enlistment
8
Fort Bliss. Appeals to Remove or Transfer Unfavorable Information in Military Records