-An administration separation is basically an employment hearing to determine whether the service member should be retained or separated from the service. Although the services claim it is not punitive in nature and is purely an administrative proceeding, this only partially true. It is administrative in nature as far as the military goes, but has a punitive impact once that service member is discharges if the characterization of service is not honorable, and most times that is the case. There are three characterization of service categories; honorable, general (under honorable conditions), and other than honorable, also known as OTH. Many times enrollment applications to colleges and job applications will as if an applicant has served in the armed services and the characterization of service they received. If the applicant received anything other than an honorable characterization of service this does not look favorable and may impact there acceptance, thus the administration separation is punitive in nature, many years after the servicemember has left the service.

-Officer Boards are almost identical to the administration separations, however they are employment hearings for servicemembers in the officer ranks.

-Letters of reprimand are formal written counselings for minor misconduct. These written couselings are filed in the servicemembers official military records. Too many written couselings may lead to an administrative separation or may prevent a servicemember from re enlisting once there contract is up.

-Once a servicemember has been separated from the service they may apply to upgrade their characterization of service or the reason for their discharge. They may apply to the Board of Corrections for Military Records if they have a general courts-martial discharge or want to change their discharge to a medical retirement or medical discharge.

-Under the UCMJ, Article 15, allows the commanding officer to administratively discipline servicemembers without a court martial for minor offenses. The punishment imposed upon the servicemember depends on the rank of the commanding officer conducting the NJP, the rank of the servicemember, and whether or not the servicemember is embarked on a ship. If the servicemember is not embarked on a ship, they have the option of denying NJP. If this occurs the commanding officer usually takes one of two different courses of action. He or she may give the servicemember a formal letter of reprimand (which may lead to an administrative separation board) or may send them to court martial.

-The servicemember may appeal a NJP on the grounds that it was unjust or disproportionate to the offense. The appeal must be in writing and forwarded within five days to the next superior authority or the officer who conducted the NJP.

-A summary court martial is the lowest form of court martial in the UCMJ. It is conducted by an officer, who acts as judge and jury, and is only for enlisted servicemembers. It is an expeditious and simplified court martial for misconduct that rates more than and NJP but not a special courts martial. The servicemember does not that the right to an attorney during the proceedings and can deny summary court martial. The punishments available to be imposed depend on the rank of the accused. If the accused denies summary court martial the commanding officer has the option to send the accused to special court martial.

-A special courts martial is the intermediate form of court martial. It consist of a judge, a prosecutor (known as trial counsel), and members (jury). The members consist of a minimum of three officers. If the special courts martial consists of members, an enlisted accused has the option of one-third enlisted representation. In addition, the accused has the option of being tried by judge alone. The maximum punishment at special courts marital is no more than twelve months confinement, forfeiture of two-third’s basic pay per month for six months, a bad conduct discharge (for enlisted servicemembers), and other lesser punishments. An accused that is an officer cannot be dismissed from the service nor confined. Furthermore, the accused is entitled to free legal representation by military defense counsel and may retain a civilian attorney at his or her own expense. If a civilian counsel is retained, the accused continues to retain the military defense counsel too.

-A general courts martial is the highest form of court martial. It consists of military judge, trial counsel (prosecutor), defense counsel, and members (jury). The members consists of a minimum of five officers. If the accused is enlisted, he or she has the option of requesting one-third enlisted representation. In addition, the accused has the option of being tried by judge alone. The maximum
punishment is set for each offense as outlined in the Manual for Courts-Martial (MCM), and may include death, confinement, bad conduct or dishonorable discharge for enlisted, and dismissal from the service for officers, in addition to other forms of punishment. Before a general courts martial is conducted a probable cause hearing is required known as an Article 32, unless waived by the accused. Furthermore, the accused is entitled to free legal representation by military defense counsel and may retain a civilian attorney at his or her own expense. If a civilian counsel is retained, the accused continues to retain the military defense counsel too.

-A servicemember will be under investigation by military law enforcement when the command or LE has been made aware of alleged misconduct. During this time the servicemember is not entitled to representation by military defense counsel, but may retain civilian defense counsel at his or her own expense. This representation allows the civilian defense counsel to effectively advise the servemember and mitigate legal consequences. The civilian defense attorney may send a letter of representation to the command and LE, informing them they are not to interrogate the client, without first going through the retained attorney and in most cases will advise the client not to make any statements.

-The purpose of the IDC is to decide which referrals for suspected child abuse or unrestricted domestic abuse meet the DOD criteria, . . . requiring entry into the FAP central registry. This decision is known as the Incident Status Determination (ISD). An incident of child abuse may meet criteria under DOD even though it is not substantiated by civilian child protective services (CPS) because the DOD criteria defining the type of abuse may be more or less inclusive than the criteria used by CPS. i The hearing takes place outside the presence of the accused and the only information he or she is provided is whether or not they “met criteria” for the alleged abuse. Although the service claims that the IDC hearing is not a disciplinary proceeding and that the commander may not take administrative or disciplinary action against the member solely upon the ISD, the commander received a lot of information at these hearings that they then use to discipline the servicemember.

-If a service member or dependent is found to have “met criteria,” they may appeal the finding upon two different grounds. The first is that the IDC did not have all relevant information when it made its finding. The information must have existed or been discovered within 30 days of the IDC determination. The second grounds for appeal is that there is evidence that the IDC did not follow policy.

-Contractors are regularly conducting business on bases that range from maintenance services to construction services. Employees of the contractors that need access are sometimes denied access due to civilian convictions that come up during a background check. The applicable department will notify the individual that they are denied access and give them the opportunity to appeal. These appeals go before the commanding officer of the base and depending on the type of conviction and how old the conviction is, he or she has discretion to grant the contractor access.