cube zombie:
I still think that you did NOT get an Article 15. Why?
Do you remember being standing in an office either at parade rest or attention, and hearing the following phrase:
"I am considering imposing punishment for the following incident: In that you did, on or about xx-xx-xxxx, did alter an official identification card, which is the property of the United States Government, in order to commit an illegal act. This is in violation of Article 134, UCMJ."
(NOTE: That's an approximation; there would probably have been more than one specification involved, too--and the citation would probably have been different.)
You were also read that you had three choices: 1. To accept the Article 15, as written; 2. To present matters of extenuation or mitigation, or: 3. To demand trial by court-martial. You would have been given 72 hours to decide what to do; you would have gone to see a JAG officer, received counsel, and would have been back to the Commander or his/her representative in three days.
If you don't remember any of that, you did NOT receive an Article 15.
vranasaurus: In a couple of my units, when soldiers screwed up in a minor way there was usually a meeting of the minds, so to speak--the immediate supervisor, the Platoon Sergeant, 1SG, and maybe even the Commander--but usually when the officers got involved, someone got hosed.
We would discuss the offense, and if the soldier was not a habitual screwup, and was just guilty (at the time) of "stupidity at the enlisted level", we would OK it with the 1SG, and then engage the young soldier in some "extra training"--which would consist of some onerous task or series thereof for about one week.
Of course, we had the craphouse lawyers, who said "Hey! You can't give me extra duty without an Article 15!" I would sit my soldiers down and explain patiently, "You're right, we can't. We can take this straight to the Commander's office. You get the Article 15. Then, you get flagged for promotion, reduced in rank, have to make the rank again, lose money, and work your butt off for at least a week, maybe two. You want to go that route? It's up to you." We never had someone demand an Article 15 in lieu of NCO-imposed extra training.