Fort Sill: The Home of Field Artillery
On the southern plains of Oklahoma, where the Great Plains run up against the Wichita Mountains, Fort Sill is the Fires Center of Excellence, the home of Field Artillery and Air Defense Artillery, and a Basic Combat Training post on top of it. Its School of Fire for Field Artillery opened in 1911, and the steady thud of guns on the ranges is part of daily life. The Soldiers, drill sergeants, and families here are out around Lawton, about eighty-five miles southwest of Oklahoma City, in wide-open country with relentless wind and big skies, on ground deep in history, where Geronimo is buried. A command that trains the Army's artillery and a steady flow of recruits will protect that mission and make an example of anyone who steps wrong.
Military defense is all Bilecki Law Group does, and Soldiers 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 Forward Observer Who Called It on Himself
The standard for an artilleryman was set by First Lieutenant John R. Fox, a field artillery forward observer, at Sommocolonia, Italy, on December 26, 1944. As the Germans overran the town, Fox stayed at his observation post in an upper floor and directed defensive fire closer and closer to his own position. When the enemy was on top of him, he called the barrage directly onto himself, telling the gunners it was the only way to break the assault. The fire fell where he asked. His body was found among the enemy dead his last mission killed. He gave the order no one else could give. That willingness to spend everything to hold the line is the standard we bring to a case at Sill.
Why Soldiers at Sill Bring Us In
We win court martial cases. Military defense is all we do, and Soldiers 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 command running an artillery school and a training mission will make an example of a Soldier or a cadre member to keep the standard sharp. A serious case is investigated by Army CID, 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. Your Trial Defense Service counsel may be capable but carries a heavy caseload inside the same system, which is why Soldiers serious about winning bring in their own counsel.
UCMJ Charges We Defend at Fort Sill
We are not limited to the charges below. They are the most common at Fort Sill, and we defend the full range of UCMJ allegations.
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, all the more so in a training environment where word of an allegation travels fast and the command wants to look decisive. 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 an Army career because a Soldier has to be able to carry a weapon. We also defend assault under Article 128, the usual charge when a night out in Lawton ends in a fight, where self defense is a recognized defense.
Drill Sergeant and Trainee Misconduct (UCMJ Articles 93 and 92). A post that runs basic training alongside the artillery school sees a steady stream of cadre and trainee cases. The Army charges maltreatment under Article 93 when it says a drill sergeant crossed the line with a trainee, and a violation of the professional-relationship and no-contact rules under Article 92, often on the trainee's account alone. These cases are defensible, because the government has to prove the maltreatment, the authority, and a genuine rule violation, not merely that a trainee made a report.
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. A Soldier is subject to the UCMJ off duty, so a night out in Lawton or up toward Oklahoma City that ends badly comes back to the command, and a positive urinalysis is one of the most common ways a young Soldier's career comes apart. 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 Soldier who calls us from Sill is innocent. What matters is how serious the case is, not your rank. If a matter is genuinely minor, your Trial Defense Service 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 place a covered offense in a confinement range, two and a half to ten years for sexual assault and ten to twenty for rape, that a judge may depart from only by stating specific facts in writing, alongside 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 Fort Sill, reach out for a free defense 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 Fort Sill
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 Mitigates Consequences of Sex Harassment Allegations for Army Lt
- Case connected to this location: Charges for LSD Possession and Destruction of Evidence Disposed at Article 15
- Case connected to this location: Bilecki Investigation-Stage and Pre-Preferral Representation on Army Specialist at Fort Sill Facing Six Article 120b Sexual Assault of a Child Specifications
FAQ
Army CID wants to interview me at Sill. Do I have to talk to them?
No. You are not required to sit for a CID interview or answer their questions. Under Article 31b of the UCMJ you have the right to remain silent and to a lawyer, and you can invoke both at any point, including before the interview begins. CID is collecting evidence, not giving you a chance to explain, and it takes very little to be titled as a subject, a label that follows you for years. Decline, ask for counsel, and call a defense lawyer before you give any statement.
I'm a drill sergeant facing a trainee-maltreatment allegation. What does the government actually have to prove?
For Article 93 maltreatment, the government has to prove that the trainee was subject to your orders and that your conduct was objectively cruel, abusive, or unwarranted and served no legitimate training purpose. Hard, lawful, demanding training is not maltreatment, and a basic training environment is meant to be stressful, so these cases turn on the specific conduct, the context, and the orders and standards you were operating under. The command tends to charge aggressively to protect the mission, which is exactly why you need your own counsel before you say anything to investigators.
I'm under an Article 120 investigation. Can it be beaten, and will I have to register as a sex offender?
Yes, it can be fought, because a conviction for a covered Article 120 offense triggers registration duties under the applicable federal and state law, with requirements and duration determined by the covered conviction and jurisdiction. The goal is to defeat the charge outright or reduce it to an offense that carries no registration, and the investigation and the charging decision are where these cases are most often turned. Get your own counsel involved before you ever sit down with CID.