How can I rebut an article 15? How far can I take it?

Question

The reason why is i told my SFC to keep her oppinion to herself and her oppinion is wrong because the regulation is right

Answer 1

You could demand trial by court-martial...

Maintain self-discipline and military bearing from now on and you won't have to worry about negating situations like this.

Answer 2

If you have already received an Article 15.

It is to late to rebut it.

If you are being offered an Article 15, then all you have to do, is not accept it.

But be warned, before a Commander offers an Article 15, the post judge advocate, has already determined that there is enough evidence to warrent a court martial.

Which means, if you turn the Article 15 down, you will be Court martialed and have about a 95% chance of being found guilty.

The penalities a court martial can give out, are alot higher than you can receive from an Article 15.

Article 15 punishments are based on your Commanders rank.

Thats what is bad about the Air Force, your commander is almost always at least a Lt. Colonel.

vs a Captain for the Army or Marine Corps.

And lets be honest, you more than likely told you SFC to keep her fu*king opinion to herself.................

And probally yelled it in a loud voice.

Thats clearly disrespect to a senior non commissioned officer.

What did you expect would happen ?

You wouldn't get away with that, if you were a burger flipper at McDonalds and said that to your assistant manager.

Why would you think you would get away with that in the military.

Answer 3

It is not clear from your question whether you have already been given punishment under Article 15 and want to appeal or are pending the proceedings and want to defend yourself. I will presume it is the latter.

Accepting an Article 15 is NOT an admission of guilt. Rather it is your agreement to let your commander adjudicate the case. You may present a defense.

The issue really is not whether your SFC was right or wrong. It is whether you were disrespectful in the way you told her she was wrong. Telling a SFC to keep her opinion to herself is disrepectful.

It seems to me that the best "defense" is a mitigation case. Mitigation is evidence that will convince your commander not to punish you so severely, most importantly reduction in rank and/or loss of pay.

Common evidence in mitigation is your record of being a good soldier. SO if you have never been in trouble before, this is something you should point out. Likewise, if you have gotten an accomodations or "atta girls" from your bosses, you should bring them with you to show that this behavior is out of character. A sincere apology to your SFC is also appropriate.

You may wish to make your commander an offer especially if you believe he/she intends to reduce you. Tell your commander, that if she does intend to reduce you, would she consider suspending it (its like probation) and that you will show her that her faith that this will not happen again will be well placed. Then keep your word.

In the Army, as in life, you will run into people who are wrong and you are stupider than you are. If they outrank you though, you have to just suck it up. Respectful discussion of an issue is always OK until the decision is made. Once it is, it is your duty to follow it and support it as if it were your own.

Good luck.

Answer 4

Its not always a matter of being right or wrong on a regulation, its how you present yourself. An E7 is still and E7 even if they mis-quoted a reg.

Once the ART 15 is done (Im assuming company level) you have the option of accepting it or going to a Court Marshal. A Court Marshal is almost always a bad idea. They will often be mad just for being conviened over a small issue.

If you accept it and don't agree with the company commander's decesion, then you can file an appeal to the battalion commander.

From what little I know of this, I would probably give you a moderate punishment and then suspend it. That means that if you keep your nose clean for a certain ammount of time, it goes away. If you screw up again, then it goes into effect.

Answer 5

You would have to start with the commander.

UM HOWEVER, you obviously have some respect and discipline issues though. Even if the SFC is wrong (you would have to prove it) she is still your superior and you should have approached her in a respectful manner either AFTER obeying her lawful orders or beforehand with something like "I'm not sure I understand the regulation that way can we go over it together ?" or "excuse me Sgt but I beleive you're wrong about that". And NO it doesn't technically matter if she is in your direct chain or not if she outranks you.

If your article is for insubordination (as you seem to be admitting) it may be very hard to overturn.




edit: oh and by the way if you contact your congressman about something as minor as this you won't get results you'll get laughed at and much worse punishment from your chain, not EVERYONE gets Article 15's(hubby's been in 18yrs and nary a one) but if you do and it's your first than either don't sign it or move on. This isn't something to cause a big stink about UNLESS you are trying to get chaptered out eventually.

Answer 6

Weren't you given a choice, an Article 15 or a court martial????

With an article 15, once you leave the unit, all traces of the article15 are gone.
With a court martial, it always stays in your record. Also, if you elect court ,martial, the deck is stacked against you, because no commander is going to waste his time in preparing one unless he's very sure it will stick.
Just take the article 15 and save yourself a lot of grief.
Incidentally, unless you outrank an SFC you don't tell them what to do.

Answer 7

You cannot appeal your guilt or innocence after accepting article 15 : There are only two grounds for appeal: the punishment was unjust or the punishment was disproportionate to the offense committed. Unjust punishment exists when the evidence is insufficient to prove the accused committed the offense; when the statute of limitations prohibits lawful punishment; or when any other fact, including a denial of substantial rights, calls into question the validity of the punishment. Punishment is disproportionate if it is, in the judgment of the reviewer, too severe for the offense committed.

Answer 8

well the SFC doesnt give you the Art 15. Commander does. You can reject the Art 15 and go to courts martial.
However you might wanna think about it esp with what you wrote. I was an AF NCO and I would have probably brought you up on charges with that attitude and my people got away with alot...

Answer 9

If you feel you are right, and your legal council agrees with you. It is simple to rebut an article 15.
DON'T SIGN IT!!!!!
By doing so you automatically have requested a trial by court marshal. This gives your Commander the choice of either dropping the matter or proceeding with the court marshal.

Answer 10

Article 15 is non judicial punishment handed out by a commanding officer. You have almost no recourse once it is done.

You accepted it instead of the judicial judgement of Courts Martial. It is like a plea bargin. Once you accept it, it is done.

An injustice may have been done, but it is over. It happens all the time. Consider yourself disciplined and go on with your life.

Let it go.