LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
Two Airmen recently faced charges of wrongful use of controlled substances, a violation of Article 112a, Uniform Code of Military Justice, during two separate courts-martial at the 1st Fighter Wing Law Center.
An airman basic assigned to the 30th Intelligence Squadron here pled guilty at a special court-martial at the Langley Law Center May 28 for wrongful use of cocaine.
After an hour-long hearing before the military judge, the Airman convinced the military judge to accept his guilty plea. The Airman elected sentencing by a panel of officers. The panel sentenced the Airman to receive a bad conduct discharge, six months confinement, forfeiture of two-thirds pay per month for four months, and a reprimand.
Pursuant to a pretrial agreement submitted by the Airman, the convening authority agreed to a sentence cap that would limit any jail term to four months in exchange for the Airman pleading guilty.
The same airman basic was court-martialed Jan. 31 and received a bad conduct discharge, three months confinement, and forfeiture of $893 per month for three months. The Airman was taken to the confinement facility and submitted a urine sample, which was the basis for this most recent case.
An airman first class assigned to the 1st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron here pled not guilty at a special court-martial at the Langley Law Center June 6 for wrongful use of heroin and methadone and wrongful use of his government travel card.
The Airman also elected sentencing by a panel of officers, who found him guilty of the drug offenses, but not guilty of government travel card misuse . The panel sentenced him to bad conduct discharge, four months confinement, forfeitures of $200 per month for four months, and reduction to the grade of E-1.
Throughout the past year, Langley has seen a rise in the number of illegal drug offenses, which not only include common drugs such as heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and marijuana, but also the illegal use of prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications.
It is unclear whether this increase is the result of more illegal drug use or whether the Air Force Drug Testing Program is catching more people.
Airmen are on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and can't lose their focus on mission readiness. The equipment and people entrusted to us to keep the nation safe demand that Airmen hold themselves to the highest standards and not give anyone a reason to question an Airman's discipline or fitness for duty. The Air Force values of Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence In All We Do leave no room for illegal drug use.
Serious consequences can result if Airmen fail to uphold the standard. If they missed the message before, these two Airmen found out just how serious the Air Force is about illegal drug use.