Civillian DUI Charge.while on AD..Disclose to mil?

[exworks]

What is the name of your state? OH

I was on leave, in my home state of Ohio. I was pulled over for OVI (new term for DUI) and refused the BAC test. I have contacted a civilian lawyer, and he believes I will end up with a reckless operation charge.

What is the appropriate course of action for me to take with the military? I put on E-5 in 2 weeks (worst possible timing, I know), so I want to do this the smartest way possible. So should I:

A. Not tell my Chain of Command (Speaking of which, am I required to?)
B. Wait for the outcome of the trial or plea bargain and then tell my chain of command
C. Just go ahead and tell my chain of command
D. Take my butt to the ADC and ask them what to do
E. Do some other option I haven't thought of

And I'm AD in the USAF, so I guess my chances of getting discharged are pretty good since they're trying to get rid of people, even though this is the first time I've messed up in my life. If I do go to my commander and end up getting an Article 15, what are my chances of keeping E-5 by requesting to have my punishment suspended?

[123rich]

If the civillan authority is charging and the punishment is comming from the civillian side of the house, then I do not see where the Military will have a leg to stand on as far as punishment.

The only thing I think they could try to do is maybey charge you with not complying with a direct or lawfull order if you recieved some kind of safety brief prior to leaving for your trip.

Good luck, I have seen many soldiers get off of DUI's when the civillian side takes action but there are always the few that get charged with DUI from civillian authorities and disobeying a lawful order or regulations by the army.

To be honest, I would probobly keep it to my self and hope they dont find out.

[canyonFF]

if it happened in a state other than the one your base is in then unless you willfully disclose that this happened there is no real way for them to find out, right now. More than likely somewhere along the line if a background check gets done, maybe you'll want to go to OCS or something of that nature, there is a POSSIBILITY it may show up on the police report/background check. So without your willful disclosure, it should probably go unnoticed for awhile. Just when it does, be prepared to get reamed. I say if it happened in a state other than your PDS' state because there is probably no chance that that police unit communicates arrest reports to the base, although they may communicate to another nearbye base. This is called the "Blotter Report" updated everyday, and checked mon-fri. generally by Brigade level legal staff (don't know the brigade counterpart for AF, sorry). So if it happened relativly close to post, you might as well not even try to hide it.
You never, NEVER, have to self incriminate yourself, regardless of military service. We in this country have a bill of rights, have you not read it? The military may say "you should" or "it's necessary for the ... of the service" but even a military lawyer would tell you you don't have to. and a civil counselor would definately tell you that. Now if do bring it up, you better believe the military CAN and WILL nail your ass. Regardless if it get's thrown out of civil court. But they will wait until AFTER the civil side is done before they offer their punishment. Isn't this Double-Jeopardy? NO. Because they will not be charging you for drunk/reckless driving.
I would assume that even an Airman has heard of article 134, we in the army deemed it simply "The Catch All." It reads: --

(MCM ed.2005)
Article 134—General article
a. Text.
“Though not specifically mentioned in this chapter,
all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good
order and discipline in the armed forces, all conduct
of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces,
and crimes and offenses not capital, of which persons
subject to this chapter may be guilty, shall be
taken cognizance of by a general, special, or summary
court-martial, according to the nature and degree
of the offense, and shall be punished at the
discretion of that court.”

--
This article allows them administrative punishment to any offense that does not have a DEFINED article in the manual for courts-martial that they deem necessary of punishment. So they will be charging you for getting ARRESTED and bringing "discredit upon the armed forces" as a RESULT of drunk/reckless driving. It is a very fine line, but you better believe they are well within their legal bounds to walk it, as, undoubtedly, a JAG counselor would tell you.

<Scenario>
Soldier gets arrested for purposefully rearending another vehicle.
Soldier tells his COC, COC does nothing.
Because no damage was done to either vehicle, it is pleaded out of Civil court and charges ARE DROPPED.
An hour later soldier is on the carpet, getting read for an infraction of Art. 134.
Not for HITTING the other vehicle, but for getting ARRESTED for hitting another vehicle.
<end scenario>


Hope that clears up a few things. I'm not a lawyer. Please let me know how it turns out for you. But if you do bring it up to the COC, that pretty e5 rank your about to sew on is gonna be gone, probably get flagged, and a slew of other stuff. Hope all goes well, but I'm sorry, I have no love loss for drunk drivers. Count yourself lucky you got stopped before you killed someone or yourself, you'd be in a real mess then wouldn't you.

[badapple40]

I would not disclose it. Chances are, unless you got this DUI in the same/near proximity to the base where you are stationed, that it won't be detected.