UCMJ Article 106a: Wearing Unauthorized Insignia, Decoration, Badge, Ribbon, Device, or Lapel Button

A uniform tells a story at a glance. The insignia of rank, the decorations for valor, the badges and ribbons earned through service all communicate, instantly and without explanation, who a service member is and what that member has done. Article 106a of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, codified at 10 U.S.C. 906a, protects the integrity of that visual language by making it a crime for a person subject to the Code to wear, without authorization, an insignia, decoration, badge, ribbon, device, or lapel button that the person has not earned or is not entitled to display.

The number attached to this offense is a frequent source of confusion, and the confusion has a specific cause. Before 2019, Article 106a was the military’s espionage statute. The Military Justice Act of 2016, effective January 1, 2019, renumbered the punitive articles and moved espionage to Article 103a (10 U.S.C. 903a). The number 106a was then reassigned to this far less grave offense. Anyone working from older material who reads “Article 106a” as espionage is reading the pre-2019 Code; under current law, Article 106a is the unauthorized-insignia offense and nothing else.

What the statute actually prohibits

The text of 10 U.S.C. 906a is short and self-contained. It reaches any person subject to the Code who, first, is not authorized to wear an insignia, decoration, badge, ribbon, device, or lapel button, and second, wrongfully wears such an item upon the person’s uniform or civilian clothing. An offender “shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.”

Two features of that language define the offense. The first is the breadth of what is covered. The statute names six categories of items, ranging from rank insignia to combat and qualification badges, to unit awards and service ribbons, to the small devices and lapel buttons that mark particular honors. The list captures essentially the full vocabulary of items worn to signify military status or achievement. The second feature is the breadth of where the wearing is prohibited. The article applies to display upon the person’s uniform and equally to display upon civilian clothing. A person who pins an unearned decoration to a civilian jacket is within the statute just as surely as one who adds it to a uniform.

The two requirements: lack of authorization and wrongful wearing

The offense has two operative requirements that must both be met. The first is that the person was not authorized to wear the item. Authorization is the dividing line between lawful and unlawful display. A service member who wears the ribbons, badges, and rank that personnel records confirm the member has earned is authorized, and no offense occurs no matter how the items are displayed. The offense begins only where the right to wear the item is absent.

The second requirement is that the wearing was wrongful. The word “wrongfully” excludes display that is authorized or excused even where the wearer has not personally earned the item. Costume, theatrical, or training contexts, the handling of awards in a museum or ceremonial capacity, and other sanctioned uses are not wrongful within the meaning of the article. The statute targets the person who puts on unearned military distinction in a manner that is neither authorized nor excused, holding out a false picture of status or achievement.

What the government must prove

Tracking the statute, a prosecution must establish that the accused wore an insignia, decoration, badge, ribbon, device, or lapel button of the kind the article names; that the wearing was upon the accused’s uniform or civilian clothing; that the accused was not authorized to wear the item; and that the wearing was wrongful. Proof of authorization, or the lack of it, is generally a matter of record, drawn from personnel and award documentation establishing what the accused was and was not entitled to display.

Maximum punishment

Article 106a itself fixes no sentence. Like most punitive articles, it provides only that the offender shall be punished as a court-martial may direct, leaving the President to set the ceilings in the Manual for Courts-Martial, Part IV. The Manual draws a distinction based on which item was wrongfully worn.

For most unauthorized items, the maximum punishment under the Manual in force from January 1, 2019, was a bad-conduct discharge, total forfeiture of pay and allowances, and confinement for six months. A higher ceiling applies to the most significant decorations. Where the item wrongfully worn is one of the highest honors, such as the Medal of Honor, a service cross, the Silver Star, the Purple Heart, or a valor device on a personal award, the maximum confinement rises to one year, with a bad-conduct discharge and total forfeiture authorized. For offenses committed on or after December 27, 2023, the offense is addressed through the restructured sentencing parameters of the 2024 Manual rather than a single fixed table, so the authorized maximum for a given specification should be confirmed against the Manual for Courts-Martial in force at the time of the offense.

These figures are ceilings, not expected sentences. For offenses committed on or after December 27, 2023, the military judge imposes the sentence under segmented sentencing rules even in a members trial, and the sentence actually adjudged turns on the facts, the accused’s record, and any plea agreement.

How the article relates to civilian “stolen valor” law

The conduct Article 106a addresses overlaps in spirit with the civilian Stolen Valor Act of 2013 (18 U.S.C. 704), which makes it a federal crime to fraudulently claim certain military decorations with intent to obtain money, property, or another tangible benefit. The two regimes are distinct. The civilian statute generally requires a fraudulent purpose tied to a tangible benefit and applies to the public at large. Article 106a applies to persons subject to the UCMJ and reaches the wrongful, unauthorized wearing itself, without a separate requirement that the wearer sought to defraud anyone of money or property. A single course of conduct may implicate both bodies of law, but Article 106a is the military disciplinary provision, focused on preserving the honesty of the items worn to signify military service and achievement.

How Article 106a relates to neighboring offenses

The article sits among other offenses that punish false representations of status. Impersonation under Article 106 (10 U.S.C. 906) reaches a person who wrongfully impersonates an officer, a noncommissioned or petty officer, an agent, or an official, which can include but goes well beyond the wearing of insignia. False or unauthorized pass offenses under Article 105a (10 U.S.C. 905a) reach the misuse of military and official credentials such as identification cards and passes. False official statements under Article 107 (10 U.S.C. 907) reach false written or oral assertions made in an official capacity. Where unauthorized wearing is accompanied by a false claim made to obtain a benefit, by the use of a forged credential, or by an attempt to pass as someone the accused is not, the government may have more than one charging option, subject to the rules against unreasonable multiplication of charges.

Sources

• 10 U.S.C. 906a (Article 106a, Wearing unauthorized insignia, decoration, badge, ribbon, device, or lapel button), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/906a
• 10 U.S.C. 906a, U.S. House of Representatives, Office of the Law Revision Counsel: https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title10-section906a&num=0&edition=prelim
• Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (2024 edition), Part IV (Punitive Articles), Joint Service Committee on Military Justice: https://jsc.defense.gov/Military-Law/Current-Publications-and-Updates/

This article is for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice. It describes military law and procedure of public record, does not address any individual case, and does not create an attorney-client relationship.