UCMJ Article 95a: Disrespect Toward a Sentinel or Lookout
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Article 95a punishes wrongful, disrespectful language within a sentinel’s or lookout’s hearing, or wrongful, disrespectful behavior within their sight, by someone who knows the person is a sentinel or lookout on duty. The maximum is confinement for 3 months and forfeiture of two-thirds pay per month for 3 months, with no punitive discharge.
Disrespectful words or behavior toward a sentinel
10 U.S.C. § 895a has two parallel subsections:
- (a) Language: a person who, “knowing that another person is a sentinel or lookout, uses wrongful and disrespectful language that is directed toward and within the hearing of the sentinel or lookout, who is in the execution of duties as a sentinel or lookout.”
- (b) Behavior: a person who, with the same knowledge, “behaves in a wrongful and disrespectful manner that is directed toward and within the sight of the sentinel or lookout,” who is in the execution of those duties.
The article was added by the Military Justice Act of 2016 (Pub. L. 114-328, § 5412).
Six elements
The Manual for Courts-Martial (2024 ed.), Part IV, ¶ 23.b, lists six elements for each form: the person was a sentinel or lookout; the accused knew it; the accused used disrespectful language (or behaved disrespectfully); it was wrongful; it was directed toward and within the hearing (or sight) of the sentinel or lookout; and the sentinel or lookout was then executing those duties.
Three of those limit the offense in practice:
- Knowledge. Disrespect toward someone the accused did not know was a sentinel or lookout is not this offense.
- Hearing or sight. Words the sentinel could not hear, or gestures the sentinel could not see, do not satisfy the element for that form.
- On duty. The protection applies while the person is executing sentinel or lookout duties, not to the same person off post.
For what “disrespectful” means, the Manual points to its explanation for disrespect toward a superior officer: behavior that detracts from the respect due, by acts or language, including contemptuous or denunciatory words, insolence, or marked disdain (¶ 15.c(2)(b)). Who counts as a sentinel or lookout is explained under Article 95: a person whose duties require constant alertness to watch for the enemy or to guard persons, property, or a place.
3 months, with no punitive discharge
Under ¶ 23.d, the maximum is confinement for 3 months and forfeiture of two-thirds pay per month for 3 months. The article authorizes no punitive discharge.
When the conduct goes further
Assaulting a sentinel or lookout in the execution of duty is an aggravated form of assault under Article 128, with a maximum of a dishonorable discharge and 3 years. Refusing a sentinel’s lawful order, such as a challenge to halt, can be a failure to obey an order under Article 92, which recognizes that a person not senior to the accused, including a sentinel, can issue an order the accused has a duty to obey.
Sources
- 10 U.S.C. § 895a, Article 95a, Disrespect toward sentinel or lookout (Cornell LII)
- Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (2024 ed.), Part IV, ¶ 15.c(2)(b), ¶ 18.c(2)(c), ¶ 23, and ¶ 77.d
General information about military law, not legal advice for any individual case.