Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst: Three Services on One Base
In the Pine Barrens of central New Jersey, between Trenton and the shore, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst is the only tri-service joint base in the Department of Defense, the Air Force, the Army, and the Navy on one installation. McGuire is the Air Force side, home of the 305th Air Mobility Wing and its KC-46 and C-17 fleet that flies global airlift and air refueling, along with Reserve and Air National Guard wings. Dix is the Army side, where Army Support Activity Dix mobilizes and trains Reserve and National Guard Soldiers. Lakehurst is the Navy side, the home of the Naval Air Warfare Center engineering the catapults and arresting gear that launch and recover aircraft from carriers. Families settle across Wrightstown, Browns Mills, and toward Philadelphia an hour west. A base that runs three services at once will protect its standards and move hard against a service member who steps wrong.
Military defense is all Bilecki Law Group does, and service members fly us in from our office in Tampa because a contested court martial is decided by trial experience, and we bring it wherever the case is.
The Jersey Ace the Base Is Named For
The standard here belongs to the man the base is named for, Major Thomas B. McGuire Jr., born in New Jersey and the second highest scoring American ace of all time. Over the Philippines in December 1944, leading a flight of P-38s against a swarm of enemy fighters, McGuire repeatedly turned back into the fight to protect his outnumbered comrades, breaking off his own attacks to drive enemy planes off their tails, and even after his guns jammed he kept maneuvering to force an enemy into his wingman's fire. He spent himself covering the other men in his formation. That instinct to turn back for the people beside you is the standard we bring to a case at this base that carries his name.
Why Service Members at McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Bring Us In
We win court martial cases. Military defense is all we do, and service members fly us in from all over the country because of our trial record. The military justice system is not built to find the truth; it exists to preserve good order and discipline, and a high profile joint base will make an example of someone to protect its standards. Because three services share this base, your case follows your service, and getting that right from the start matters. A serious case is investigated by the Office of Special Investigations for the Air Force, Army CID for Soldiers, or NCIS for Sailors, and for sexual assault and other covered offenses the decision to refer charges to a court martial no longer belongs to your command but goes to an independent Special Trial Counsel. The free defense counsel, the Area Defense Counsel, the Trial Defense Service, or the Defense Service Office, may be capable but carries a heavy caseload inside the same system, which is why those serious about winning bring in their own counsel.
UCMJ Charges We Defend at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst
The charges below are the ones we see most often here, not the only ones we defend. If you are facing a different UCMJ allegation, we handle that too.
Sexual Assault and Sex Offenses (UCMJ Article 120 / Article 134). These allegations route to an independent Special Trial Counsel now, and the command treats a report as established before the investigation is finished. These cases demand counsel who will run an independent investigation and contest the case rather than let the allegation stand in for proof, because a conviction can mean confinement and a federal record, with registration required for a covered sex offense under the applicable federal and state law.
Domestic Violence and Assault (UCMJ Articles 128b and 128). Domestic violence under Article 128b is charged as aggressively as any offense in the UCMJ since the Office of Special Trial Counsel took these cases over. It covers a spouse, an intimate partner, or a family member, and it treats strangulation or suffocation as its own charge that the government can bring even with no visible injury. A qualifying conviction also triggers the federal Lautenberg firearms bar, which can end a military career because a service member has to be able to carry a weapon. We also defend assault under Article 128, where self defense is a recognized defense.
Larceny and Government Property (UCMJ Articles 121 and 108). A mobility wing, an Army mobilization site, and a Navy engineering center are issued and sign for a great deal of aircraft parts, tools, and equipment, and accountability is taken seriously. The government treats missing gear, an item that cannot be reconciled, or property that walked off as larceny under Article 121 or wrongful disposition of military property under Article 108, but a shortage on an inventory is not the same as theft, and the government still has to prove the state of mind required by the charged offense: intent for larceny or fraud, or negligence where Article 108 permits it, not just that something cannot be found.
Drugs and Off Duty Conduct (UCMJ Articles 112a and 134). Drug cases often turn on the chain of custody and the government's burden to prove any use was knowing and wrongful. Marijuana is legal under New Jersey law but remains a federal controlled substance and a court martial offense under Article 112a, and buying it at a dispensary off base does not make it lawful in uniform. A positive test is evidence the government may use to argue knowing, wrongful use, not an automatic finding of guilt, so the collection, the chain of custody, and whether any use was knowing all remain the government's to prove.
A Career and a Reputation Worth Defending
We do not pretend that every service member who calls us from this base is innocent. What matters is how serious the case is, not your rank. If a matter is genuinely minor, your free military counsel can handle it, and we will tell you so honestly. But when the case is serious, everything is on the line at once: your career, your retirement, your good name, and your freedom. A court martial conviction is a federal criminal conviction, and the applicable sentencing parameters tie a confinement range to the offense, two and a half to ten years for sexual assault and ten to twenty for rape, that a judge can depart from only by stating specific facts in writing, on top of any required or adjudged punitive discharge and, on a covered sex offense, sex offender registration. That is why you fight. The court’s jurisdiction and the convicted offense determine which sentencing rules apply; some offenses use separate sentencing criteria rather than these ranges.
If you are facing an investigation or court martial at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, reach out for a free, confidential strategy session. We will tell you exactly what you are facing and how we would defend it. The government is already building its case. The only question is whether anyone is building yours.
Cases Connected to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst
These cases include trials, hearings, investigations, and administrative matters. A connection to this location does not necessarily mean that the trial occurred here.
- Case connected to this location: Bilecki’s Methodical Approach Convinces CID to Close Sexual Assault Case
FAQ
An investigator wants to interview me at McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. Do I have to talk to them?
No. Under Article 31b of the UCMJ you have the right to remain silent and to a lawyer, and you can invoke both before the interview begins, whether the agent is from OSI, CID, or NCIS. Investigators are gathering evidence, not offering a chance to explain. Decline, ask for your service's defense counsel or your own lawyer, and say nothing until you have one.
Three services share this base. Which one handles my case?
Your own. An Airman is investigated by OSI and defended by the Area Defense Counsel, a Soldier by Army CID and the Trial Defense Service, and a Sailor by NCIS and the Defense Service Office, and each service runs its court martial under the same UCMJ but with its own people and procedures. That is one more reason to bring in counsel who handles cases across all the services rather than only one.
I'm rated aircrew with the 305th. Can an allegation cost me my flying status?
Yes. For rated aircrew an allegation can convene a Flying Evaluation Board that reviews your fitness to keep flying on a standard far below what a conviction requires, so you can be pulled off flying status even if the criminal case does not stick. That is why the underlying allegation has to be fought on both fronts at once, and we handle the criminal case and the flying status together.