A felony-level offense while you are serving can end your career, put you in military prison for years, and follow you through the rest of your civilian life. That is the short version of what happens if you get a felony in the military: your command can confine you within hours, a general court-martial can impose confinement, total loss of pay, and a dishonorable discharge, and a conviction creates a federal criminal record that costs you VA benefits, your security clearance, and your right to own a firearm. The longer version depends on where the offense happened, how the command decides to handle it, and what kind of discharge you walk out with.
What Your Command Can Do Right Away
The moment your command learns about a serious allegation, your freedom narrows. A commander can restrict you to certain areas on the installation without any judge’s approval, issue a military protective order telling you to stay away from alleged victims or witnesses, and in serious cases order you into pre-trial confinement.1eCFR. 32 CFR 635.19 – Protection Orders Pre-trial confinement has reviews built in: a neutral officer looks at probable cause within 48 hours, the commander must put the reasons for continued confinement in writing within 72 hours, and a military magistrate reviews the case within seven days.
At the same time, the formal investigation starts. The Army’s Criminal Investigation Division, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, or the Air Force Office of Special Investigations takes the lead depending on the branch, and investigators will try to interview you. Before any questioning, they must tell you the nature of the accusation, inform you that you don’t have to say anything, and warn you that whatever you say can be used against you at a court-martial.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 831 – Art. 31. Compulsory Self-Incrimination Prohibited These Article 31 rights are broader than civilian Miranda warnings because they apply to questioning by any military member, not just law enforcement. The right move after hearing the words “you are suspected of” is to stop talking and ask for a lawyer.
Getting a Defense Attorney
If you are facing a felony-level charge, you are entitled to a free military defense attorney, a judge advocate whose job is to represent you and not the command. You can also ask for a specific military attorney by name, and the military must make that person available if reasonably possible.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 838 – Art. 38. Duties of Trial Counsel and Defense Counsel You can hire a civilian defense attorney at your own expense on top of that, and many service members facing long prison exposure or a punitive discharge do exactly that. Your civilian counsel can represent you at the preliminary hearing and trial, either alongside military counsel or as your sole attorney.
Who Prosecutes You, and Why Both Can
Offenses on a military installation generally fall under military jurisdiction. Off-base crimes are typically handled by local civilian prosecutors, though the military may still prosecute if the crime affects the mission, involves another service member, or damages the service’s reputation. Formal agreements between individual installations and local law enforcement spell out how those decisions get made.
The part that catches most service members off guard: being tried in civilian court does not protect you from a second prosecution under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The Fifth Amendment’s prohibition on double jeopardy applies only within a single sovereign, and the military and state courts are treated as separate sovereigns. You can be acquitted in a civilian courtroom and still face a court-martial for the same conduct, or serve a civilian sentence and then face military punishment on top of it. It happens, particularly when the military believes the civilian outcome did not adequately address the offense’s impact on good order and discipline.
The Court-Martial Process
Serious felony-level offenses are tried at a general court-martial, the military’s highest trial court and the only one with jurisdiction to impose the most severe punishments.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 818 – Art. 18. General Courts-Martial Jurisdiction Certain offenses, including sexual assault and sexual abuse of a child, can only be tried at a general court-martial.
The Article 32 Preliminary Hearing
Before the case can be sent to a general court-martial, you are entitled to a preliminary hearing under Article 32 of the UCMJ. A preliminary hearing officer evaluates whether the charges allege an actual offense, whether there is probable cause to believe you committed it, and whether the convening authority has jurisdiction. Unlike a civilian grand jury, you have real rights at this stage: you can cross-examine the government’s witnesses and present your own evidence relevant to the hearing’s purpose.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 832 – Art. 32. Preliminary Hearing Required Before Referral to General Court-Martial The hearing officer then recommends how the case should be handled, and the convening authority, usually a general officer, makes the final call on referral to trial.
Trial
If the case is referred, it goes to trial before a military judge. You can choose trial by the judge alone or by a panel of military members who function like a civilian jury. Panel members are senior service members selected by the convening authority, and if you are enlisted, you can request that at least one-third of the panel be enlisted members.6Victim and Witness Assistance Council. Military Justice Overview The standard of proof is the same as civilian court: guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
What a General Court-Martial Can Do to You
A general court-martial can impose any punishment not forbidden by the UCMJ, up to the maximum set by the President in the Manual for Courts-Martial for each specific offense. For felony-level convictions, punishments are frequently stacked:
- Confinement in a military correctional facility, up to life without parole for the most serious offenses. Certain offenses, including murder, can carry the death penalty.
- Total forfeiture of pay and allowances. When a sentence includes more than six months of confinement, forfeiture kicks in automatically by law, even if the court does not separately order it.
- Reduction in rank. Enlisted members can be reduced to the lowest pay grade, E-1, erasing years of promotions and the retirement points that came with them.
- A bad conduct discharge, which can only come from a court-martial and severely limits VA benefits.
- A dishonorable discharge, reserved for the worst offenses and available only at a general court-martial. For officers, the equivalent is a dismissal, which carries the same consequences.
Specific maximums vary widely. Desertion in time of war can carry the death penalty; aggravated assault might carry several years. The Manual for Courts-Martial sets the ceiling for every offense, and judges cannot exceed it.
When It Is Administrative Separation Instead
Not every felony-level allegation goes to trial. When evidence is weak or the command decides prosecution is not worth the resources, your commander may pursue administrative separation. This path removes you from the service without a criminal conviction, but the discharge characterization still has teeth.
You will receive formal notice of the proposed separation and the reasons. If the command is recommending an other than honorable (OTH) discharge, or if you have six or more years of service, you are entitled to a hearing before an administrative separation board of typically three officers. You can present witnesses, submit documents, and have counsel. The worst outcome from this track is an OTH discharge. It is not a criminal conviction like a punitive discharge, but it still creates serious problems for VA benefits and civilian employment. Some service members treat an administrative separation as a better outcome than risking a court-martial conviction, but that tradeoff deserves a careful conversation with your defense attorney before you agree to anything.
What a Conviction Costs in Civilian Life
The fallout does not stop at the base gate.
Security Clearance
Any criminal allegation, charged or not, can trigger a review of your security clearance, and a felony conviction almost always means losing it.7U.S. Army. Security Clearance Revocation That shuts the door on many post-military careers in defense contracting and government service.
Firearms
Federal law prohibits anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year of imprisonment from possessing firearms or ammunition.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts Court-martial convictions count. Federal courts have consistently treated courts-martial as courts for this purpose, so if your offense carried a possible sentence of over a year, you are barred from owning a firearm for life, absent a pardon or expungement.
Criminal Record
Court-martial convictions are reported to the FBI and appear in the National Crime Information Center database. They show up on standard criminal background checks that civilian employers run. A general court-martial conviction for a felony-level offense is functionally identical to a civilian felony conviction when it comes to employment, professional licensing, and housing applications.
How Your Discharge Affects VA Benefits
The character of your discharge is the single biggest factor in whether you can access VA benefits after you leave.
Discharges From a General Court-Martial
Any discharge imposed as part of a general court-martial sentence creates a statutory bar to VA benefits. That covers both dishonorable discharges and bad conduct discharges handed down by a general court-martial.9eCFR. 38 CFR 3.12 – Benefit Eligibility Based on Character of Discharge The VA will not pay pension, compensation, or dependency and indemnity compensation based on that period of service. The GI Bill, VA home loan guaranty, and VA healthcare are all off the table. The only exceptions are a finding that you were insane at the time of the offense, or a correction by your service’s Board for Correction of Military Records.
A bad conduct discharge from a special court-martial, by contrast, is not an automatic statutory bar. It falls under separate regulatory bars that give the VA more flexibility to evaluate the circumstances.
Other Than Honorable Discharges
An OTH discharge from administrative separation is not an automatic bar, but it is far from a clean pass. The VA conducts a character of discharge determination to decide whether your service qualifies you for benefits. One of the key questions is whether the misconduct was “willful and persistent.” If the VA finds it was, you will be denied benefits for that period of service. Service members with an OTH who believe their discharge was unjust should apply and let the VA make the determination rather than assume they are disqualified.
Upgrading Your Discharge
A bad discharge does not have to be permanent. Each branch has a Discharge Review Board that can change the characterization of your discharge or issue a new one. You must apply within 15 years of the discharge date, and the DRB cannot review discharges imposed by a general court-martial sentence.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 1553 – Review of Discharge or Dismissal You can appear before the board in person or through counsel and submit evidence beyond what is already in your military record.
If your discharge came from a general court-martial, or the 15-year window has closed, your only option is the Board for Correction of Military Records. This board has broader authority to correct any military record when it finds an error or injustice. The standard deadline is three years after you discover the error, but the board can waive that if justice requires it.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 1552 – Correction of Military Records These cases take time and the success rate is not high, but a discharge upgrade can restore access to VA benefits that would otherwise be permanently lost.
Appealing a Court-Martial Conviction
If your sentence includes a dishonorable or bad conduct discharge, a dismissal, or confinement of two years or more, your case is automatically reviewed by your service’s Court of Criminal Appeals. You do not have to file anything for that to happen. The appellate court reviews both the facts and the law, with power to set aside findings of guilt, reduce a sentence, or order a new trial.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 866 – Art. 66. Courts of Criminal Appeals
For convictions that do not trigger automatic review, you can file a timely appeal on your own. After the CCA rules, you have 60 days to petition the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, a civilian court in Washington, D.C. that acts as the military’s equivalent of a supreme court and takes the case on a showing of good cause.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 867 – Art. 67. Review by the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces The final avenue is the U.S. Supreme Court, which has discretionary review over CAAF decisions. The full process can take years, and your punitive discharge typically will not be executed until all appeals are exhausted.