Nellis Air Force Base is on the northeast edge of Las Vegas, Nevada, where the suburban grid opens to desert and restricted airspace. To the west are the casinos and high-rise skyline; to the north, the arid hills and dry lakebeds that form one of the most heavily used military training environments in the world. Known for the Thunderbirds and air shows, Nellis is more than a public-relations showcase. It is one of the Air Force’s premier operational installations, a global center for tactical innovation, testing, and combat preparation.
Nellis houses the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center, the organization responsible for developing the tactics that shape modern air combat. The base hosts Red Flag and Green Flag exercises, massive multinational training events that simulate the first ten days of a major conflict. Pilots and crews from across the United States and allied nations train here in air superiority, close air support, and joint integration. The airspace north of Las Vegas, linked to the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR), is among the largest contiguous military operating areas in the country, covering more than 12,000 square miles.
The 57th Wing is the host unit and oversees multiple subordinate organizations, including the United States Air Force Weapons School, the 57th Adversary Tactics Group, and the 561st Joint Tactics Squadron. Each of these commands shapes how the Air Force fights. The 99th Air Base Wing provides installation support, managing infrastructure, logistics, and security for a community of thousands. Nellis also works closely with Creech Air Force Base, about 45 miles northwest, which handles remotely piloted aircraft operations.
The personnel assigned here are the highest concentration of flight and mission specialists anywhere in the Air Force. Pilots, weapons officers, intelligence analysts, and seasoned maintainers operate in an environment that combines combat readiness and the discipline required for testing and evaluation. Many rotate through as students or instructors before moving on to key operational squadrons worldwide. For the enlisted force, the base offers some of the most technical and demanding work in the service, supporting aircraft such as the F-35 Lightning II, F-22 Raptor, and F-16 Fighting Falcon.
Beyond its mission, Nellis is a visible part of the Las Vegas community. The base contributes billions to the local economy and maintains close partnerships with civilian authorities, businesses, and schools. It also contrasts sharply with its surroundings, a world of order and regulation amid one of the country’s most free-flowing tourist zones.
Should I hire a civilian military attorney who has an office in Las Vegas, NV or near Nellis AFB?
The top priority should not be geography. The question of fit for cases at Nellis is about qualifications, reputation, and strategy, not the physical space where an attorney has a desk. You need counsel who understands the new structure of military justice, how OSTC prosecutors view cases, and how sentencing works under the current rules. None of that is tied to a local office. Most military cases today are handled by phone, email, and text. What matters is the communication, not the geography. A lawyer who understands how your judge thinks is far more useful than one who is simply nearby.
Q: A local firm near the base claims their proximity is a major advantage. Why would I pay extra in travel costs to hire your firm from out of state?
A: The “local advantage” is a common marketing tactic that exploits client anxiety, forcing you to prioritize geography over proven experience. If you want to support a local business, go to the farmer’s market the next time you need tomatoes. This is not the time to make a decision based on convenience. The critical question isn’t about an attorney’s miles from the front gate; it’s about their thousands of hours inside a military courtroom.
When you retain our firm, you are not just hiring a single attorney. You are hiring a defense team of two senior litigators, each with over two decades of exclusive, full-time military trial experience. You get a combined 40+ years of high-level practice for the fee of one.
When your career, your retirement, and your freedom are on the line, the additional cost for travel is a minor investment to ensure you have a decisive advantage in skill and experience. The few thousand dollars for travel can be the difference between a defense attorney with a handful of years of experience and a team with a combined four decades. When the ramifications are this severe, that is the only metric that truly matters.
Q: You say geography doesn’t matter, but what is your firm’s actual commitment to showing up in person at Nellis when it counts?
A: Our commitment is complete. We go where the case requires us to go, regardless of the circumstances. The best way to explain our philosophy is with a true story.
During the peak of the COVID-19 lockdown in the summer of 2020, when the world was shut down, we had a client at Nellis facing a critical, in-person Article 32 hearing. While others were working remotely, the hearing was ordered to proceed in person.
So we flew. We boarded a commercial flight to Las Vegas that was virtually empty, just us and the flight crew. We checked into a deserted Marriott hotel. We walked the Las Vegas strip, a ghost town, and found only one small Italian restaurant open for dinner. The next day, we were at Nellis, in person, defending our client at that hearing. The case was ultimately resolved with a favorable administrative outcome.
Our presence is not determined by convenience; it is determined by your defense needs. When an in-person appearance is required to protect our client, we will be there, even if we are the only ones on the plane.
As UCMJ Lawyers, do you handle cases with pilots, maintainers, and Article 120 at Nellis AFB?
Yes. We have represented Airmen and officers across those categories. The base’s focus on advanced air combat tactics and large-scale exercises like Red Flag generates complex cases concerning professional judgment, interpersonal boundaries, and off-duty behavior. These are often complex situations with layered evidence and high scrutiny from command. We have handled Article 120 prosecutions and officer administrative boards at Nellis. We understand how legal issues are viewed in operational commands and we understand the ramifications for your career, your clearance, and your reputation.
Defending Article 120: The Science of Testimony
A successful defense in an Article 120 case often requires mastering the scientific principles governing how alcohol, cognitive biases, and the malleable nature of human memory can distort an accuser’s perception and testimony.
Q: How can a defense challenge testimony that seems sincere and credible?
A: The most critical mistake is confusing a witness’s sincerity with the accuracy of their memory, and we make sure a judge or panel doesn’t make that mistake. Our defense focuses on the scientific reliability of the testimony, which is separate from how believable a witness appears. A person can be 100% truthful about what they believe happened while being 100% inaccurate about what actually occurred. Our job is to use forensic science to show the panel this distinction.
Q: Does a changing story mean the accuser is lying?
A: Not necessarily. Research shows that human memory is not a video recording; it is an active, reconstructive process. Each time a memory is recalled, the brain rebuilds it, and the memory can be subtly altered by post-event information from friends or investigators. This contamination can change the details of a story without any conscious intent to deceive.
Q: What is “confabulation” and how does it affect a sexual assault case?
A: Confabulation is the brain’s process of unconsciously inventing details to fill in memory gaps. The brain doesn’t like gaps; to create a coherent story from fragmented pieces, it will create plausible, but false, details. This is common when memory is impaired by alcohol or trauma. The key point is that a person who is confabulating genuinely believes the fabricated parts of their story are true.
Q: What is the legal and scientific meaning of an alcohol-induced “blackout”?
A: A blackout is a state of amnesia, not unconsciousness. It occurs when alcohol chemically prevents the brain from recording new long-term memories. A person in a blackout is still awake and interacting, but no memory of those actions is being saved. A fragmented blackout, where recall is patchy, is exceptionally vulnerable to being “filled in” later by the brain through confabulation.
Q: How do cognitive biases create false certainty in a fragmented memory?
A: If a person wakes up with memory gaps and distress, Confirmation Bias can cause their brain to unconsciously look for details that confirm an assault occurred, while ignoring contradictory evidence. Hindsight Bias can also cause them to revise their memory of events, making ambiguous social cues seem like obvious “red flags” in retrospect.
Q: How does a defense counter the natural sympathy a panel feels for an accuser?
A: By politely and firmly exposing the logical fallacies in the prosecution’s case. We must force the panel to separate emotion from evidence. A common error is the Appeal to Emotion, where a witness’s pain is mistaken for proof. Another is the False Cause fallacy (e.g., “She was upset the next day, therefore the sex was criminal”). Our job is to equip the panel with a scientific framework to analyze the facts objectively.
Q: Are non-contact sex offenses like sharing private images prosecuted seriously?
A: Absolutely. An act often dismissed as “bro stuff,” such as a service member sharing a private video under Article 117a or Article 120c, or sending a d-pic, can result in a conviction that permanently ends a career. Furthermore, a conviction under these articles is a registerable sex crime in many states. This penalty follows you into the civilian world, making the professional and personal consequences catastrophic.
Q: For an officer at Nellis, what makes an Article 133 charge a career-ending threat?
A: It is the most subjective charge in the UCMJ, and its legal purpose is to end a career. Your conduct does not need to violate another UCMJ article to be considered “unbecoming.” Every officer case is prosecuted as a General Court-Martial, meaning the only available punitive discharge is a Dismissal, which results in a felony-level criminal record. Your distinguished record is often viewed not as mitigation, but as proof of the high standard you deliberately forfeited.
Q: Why is trying to pressure your command a critical mistake for an accused officer?
A: Because it is an act of self-sabotage. When senior officers attempt to use political or media pressure, the command and OSTC view it as an attack on the integrity of the system, or, worse, on them personally. They will close ranks, cease negotiation, and become committed to conviction. At this point, you need to stop giving orders and start taking advice. When you are the accused, you are no longer a commander; your lawyer is the commander of your legal strategy.
Q: Why is a hyper-aggressive cross-examination often the wrong tactic?
A: A sledgehammer approach risks devastating, self-inflicted losses by alienating the judge and panel. They might subconsciously vote to convict to protect a witness from perceived bullying. If a witness is sincere but mistaken (due to confabulation or cognitive bias), a relentless personal attack is a tactical mistake. The successful approach is a firm, sharp, but professional cross-examination that exposes the fragility of memory through the witness’s own narrative.
Destructive Cross: A Tool, Not a Strategy
The skills for destructive cross-examination are essential, but relying on them alone reflects inexperience. This tactic is best reserved for situations where a witness is clearly lying, stubbornly “forgetful,” or obstructionist. When a witness appears sincere but mistaken, a more measured, conversational approach is usually more effective. Panels also tend to place more weight on answers that appear freely given than on curt yes-or-no responses to leading questions. A skilled trial attorney knows how to guide a witness subtly, allowing the testimony to emerge through the witness’s own words rather than through confrontation.
Two Decades of UCMJ Trial Work at Nellis and Worldwide
We opened our firm in 2006 after leaving the Air Force JAG Corps, where we’d been trying courts-martial since 2001. We’ve never practiced anything other than UCMJ and federal criminal defense. Our focus has remained constant: defending service members in military courtrooms.
We’ve handled cases at Nellis, Creech, and bases across the United States and overseas. The military justice system has since evolved to adopt federal criminal procedures, but that shift didn’t require us to adapt—we’ve worked in federal court for more than two decades alongside our military cases.
The Article 32 Hearing: Your Opportunity, Not the Prosecution’s
If you are facing a serious investigation, you are fighting for your career, freedom, and reputation. The military justice system treats these cases with extreme gravity. You are not fighting a simple charge; you are fighting a system built to assume the worst and pressure command for maximum accountability. This is where your attorney’s approach to OSTC matters most.
The Article 32 hearing is a preliminary proceeding where the government must demonstrate probable cause before moving forward with a General Court-Martial. The standard is low, “more likely than not,” and many inexperienced defense attorneys recommend waiving it. That advice is almost always wrong.
The hearing gives your defense team a chance to challenge the evidence, observe how a neutral JAG evaluates the case, and gauge the prosecution’s confidence and strategy. More importantly, it opens a window for negotiation with OSTC. The defense isn’t limited to arguing against probable cause. The hearing officer also has to address whether the case will be proven beyond a reasonable doubt at trial, so the defense needs to concentrate its fire on that.
We’ve seen cases dismissed or reduced after the Article 32 phase, even when probable cause was not contested. None of that happens if you waive the hearing.
Understanding the OSTC: The New Rules of Engagement
The creation of the Office of Special Trial Counsel fundamentally changed military justice. For serious offenses, the charging decision is now made by an independent OSTC prosecutor, not your local General. The OSTC has nearly unlimited resources. But this structure also creates an unprecedented opportunity for the defense.
The OSTC is under pressure to maintain a high conviction rate and will often drop a weak case that poses a high risk of an acquittal. We bring exculpatory evidence to them early to create that high-risk scenario, turning the entire case around. This approach can lead to dismissal or a favorable non-criminal resolution before charges are ever filed.
Open Communication and Simple Fees
We handle all communications and work ourselves as senior UCMJ lawyers. We do not use call centers or chatbots. We charge flat fees rather than hourly rates because it removes ambiguity and stress over finances. Each phase of your case is billed on its own as a flat fee that covers all communication, work, and time for that stage. If travel to Nellis is required, those expenses will be billed separately according to the terms in the representation agreement.
Call a Nellis AFB UCMJ Lawyer Now
If you’re facing UCMJ action, under investigation, or preparing for court-martial at Nellis Air Force Base, call 800-319-3134 for a free case evaluation. We have represented Airmen at Nellis for more than two decades and are ready to discuss your situation.