Early legal intervention in a Coast Guard case can significantly affect the outcome. If you or a family member are facing a CGIS investigation, court-martial, Captain’s Mast (Non-Judicial Punishment), administrative discharge proceedings, a Board of Inquiry, or other adverse command action, the decisions made in the earliest stages of the case often determine whether the matter escalates or can be strategically contained.
Gonzalez & Waddington are experienced civilian Coast Guard military defense lawyers representing service members worldwide. Our practice focuses on defending against serious UCMJ felony charges, career-threatening administrative actions, and complex investigations conducted across Coast Guard sectors, districts, cutters, and joint commands in the United States and overseas.
We represent Coast Guard members in:
Coast Guard cases often involve distinct jurisdictional and operational realities. Effective defense requires understanding how military law intersects with federal maritime enforcement and multi-agency investigations.
Coast Guard defense strategy must address both UCMJ exposure and the potential for parallel federal prosecution in certain cases. Early intervention is often critical to controlling jurisdictional strategy and protecting long-term career consequences.
Gonzalez & Waddington aggressively defend Coast Guard service members worldwide by taking immediate control of investigations, challenging unlawful command influence, and forcing accountability from CGIS and command authorities at every stage of the case.
We intervene early in:
Coast Guard cases can escalate quickly, particularly when federal investigative agencies are involved. Early civilian defense representation can preserve strategic options and shape the direction of the case before charges are formally referred.
If you are under investigation or facing court-martial in the Coast Guard, do not wait for formal charges before seeking counsel.
Speak directly with a military defense lawyer today. Call Gonzalez & Waddington at 1-800-921-8607 to discuss your case and take immediate steps to protect your rights, career, retirement, and future.
This comprehensive index provides direct access to in-depth legal and operational guides for U.S. Coast Guard sectors, districts, air stations, cutters, training centers, deployable specialized forces, and joint installations worldwide. It includes major operational hubs, maritime safety commands, and forward-deployed or expeditionary locations where Coast Guard members serve.
Each location links to detailed, Coast Guard-focused information designed to help members understand the legal, administrative, and command climate at their assigned unit. These guides address:
• Sector, district, and cutter command structure
• UCMJ enforcement in both shore and afloat commands
• Nonjudicial Punishment procedures
• Special and General Court-Martial practice
• CGIS investigations and parallel federal inquiries
• Administrative separation boards and boards of inquiry
• Relief for cause, adverse evaluations, and promotion impacts
• Security clearance concerns and access-to-classified issues
• Operational incidents involving maritime law enforcement
The Coast Guard operates at the intersection of military authority and federal law enforcement. Boarding operations, counter-drug missions, migrant interdictions, search and rescue, port security, and environmental enforcement create unique exposure to both military discipline and federal criminal scrutiny. Investigations may involve CGIS, the Department of Justice, or other federal agencies.
Whether assigned to a cutter, small boat station, aviation unit, deployable specialized force, or sector command, Coast Guard members function in a high-tempo operational environment where administrative and disciplinary action can move quickly and carry long-term career consequences.
From major coastal sectors to overseas deployments and joint maritime task forces, this directory is structured to help Coast Guard members and their families understand the distinct legal risks and command realities within the Coast Guard system.
Coast Guard |
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Foreign Countries
Coast Guard members can face serious UCMJ consequences at major bases, small sectors, air stations, training commands, logistics centers, cutters, boat stations, maritime law enforcement units, and headquarters support commands.
A Coast Guard case may start as a command inquiry, CGIS investigation, civilian police report, operational mishap, workplace complaint, shipboard incident, training issue, domestic allegation, alcohol-related event, drug case, or digital evidence investigation.
Coast Guard cases are different from many other military cases. Coast Guard members often work in small units. They deploy on cutters. They stand duty at stations. They conduct law enforcement boardings. They interact with civilians, local police, ports, maritime businesses, DHS agencies, federal partners, and state authorities.
Many commands are small enough that rumors spread quickly. Witnesses may be friends, supervisors, subordinates, shipmates, or local civilians. A single allegation can threaten a member’s rank, clearance, career, retirement, assignment eligibility, command trust, and future civilian employment.
Service members assigned to Coast Guard installations remain subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). That includes personnel assigned to Coast Guard sectors, air stations, bases, training centers, cutters, logistics centers, maritime law enforcement commands, national centers, support commands, and operational units throughout the United States and overseas.
This master page covers Coast Guard installations and commands including Aviation Technical Training Center Elizabeth City, Coast Guard Air Stations, Coast Guard Base Alameda, Coast Guard Base Boston, Coast Guard Base Seattle, Coast Guard Yard Baltimore, Maritime Law Enforcement Academy Charleston, National Maritime Center Martinsburg, Operations Systems Center Martinsburg, Surface Forces Logistics Center Baltimore, Training Center Cape May, Training Center Petaluma, Training Center Yorktown, and Coast Guard sectors across the country.
It also covers Coast Guard sectors including Sector Boston, Sector Buffalo, Sector Charleston, Sector Columbia River, Sector Corpus Christi, Sector Delaware Bay, Sector Detroit, Sector Duluth, Sector Guam, Sector Honolulu, Sector Houston-Galveston, Sector Jacksonville, Sector Key West, Sector Lake Michigan, Sector Long Island Sound, Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach, Sector Lower Mississippi River, Sector Maryland-National Capital Region, Sector Miami, Sector Mobile, Sector New Orleans, Sector New York, Sector North Carolina, Sector Northern New England, Sector Ohio Valley, Sector Puget Sound, Sector San Diego, Sector San Francisco, Sector San Juan, Sector Southeastern New England, Sector St. Petersburg, Sector Upper Mississippi River, Sector Upper Great Lakes, Sector Virginia, and Sector Western Rivers.
Gonzalez & Waddington defends Coast Guard members in serious UCMJ investigations, courts-martial, administrative separation boards, letters of reprimand, CGIS investigations, relief-for-cause actions, and career-threatening allegations. The firm represents service members worldwide in high-stakes military criminal defense cases.
A Coast Guard case can move quickly. CGIS may request an interview. The command may issue a no-contact order. A cutter command may remove a member from duty. A sector may start a command inquiry.
A local police report may be forwarded to the command. A training command may take immediate action after a student allegation. A boarding team incident may be reviewed as both an operational issue and a disciplinary issue.
Early defense action matters. A service member should not wait until charges are preferred. The first interview, first written statement, first command meeting, first apology, first text message, or first timeline can shape the entire case.
If you are accused of a UCMJ offense at a Coast Guard sector, air station, base, training center, cutter, boat station, support command, logistics center, or maritime law enforcement unit, do not wait for the government’s theory to harden.
This includes Article 120 sexual assault, abusive sexual contact, domestic violence, assault, hazing, maltreatment, drug allegations, BAH fraud, travel card misconduct, false official statements, orders violations, harassment, stalking, threats, law enforcement misconduct, search-and-seizure issues, boarding-related allegations, and off-duty conduct involving civilian police.
Call Gonzalez & Waddington at 1-800-921-8607 or text 954-799-4019 to request a confidential consultation with civilian military defense lawyers who defend Coast Guard members worldwide.
The Coast Guard is a military service and a federal law enforcement agency. That dual identity creates legal risks that are different from ordinary military cases.
A Coast Guard member may be a service member, law enforcement officer, boarding officer, boat crew member, aviation technician, rescue swimmer, investigator, marine inspector, watchstander, cutter crew member, student, instructor, or command staff member.
That means a misconduct allegation may affect more than discipline. It can affect law enforcement authority, credentials, qualifications, security clearance, cutter assignment, aviation status, command trust, advancement, retirement, and future civilian employment.
Coast Guard cases often involve:
A Coast Guard defense strategy must account for the military case, the command environment, the operational mission, the local civilian evidence, and the long-term career consequences.
Coast Guard sectors are not ordinary shore commands. They are operational hubs. They oversee search and rescue, marine safety, law enforcement, port security, pollution response, command center operations, waterways management, inspections, investigations, and coordination with federal, state, local, and maritime partners.
Because sectors interact with civilian agencies every day, UCMJ cases at sectors can involve mixed military and civilian evidence. A case may involve local police, port officials, witnesses from the maritime industry, ship owners, vessel operators, state agencies, federal partners, or other military branches.
Sector Boston supports Coast Guard operations in one of the oldest and busiest maritime regions in the country. Cases may involve Boston, Cape Cod, maritime businesses, local police, port security, boarding teams, station personnel, command center records, alcohol incidents, domestic allegations, Article 120 allegations, and civilian witnesses from Massachusetts.
Sector Buffalo supports Great Lakes operations. Cases may involve Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, station personnel, seasonal operations, local police, boating enforcement, boarding activity, domestic allegations, drug cases, and digital evidence.
Sector Charleston operates in a busy port and coastal region with significant military, maritime, and law enforcement activity. Cases may involve Coast Guard personnel, maritime law enforcement, port security, local police, off-duty allegations, Article 120 cases, domestic violence, drug cases, and command investigations.
Sector Columbia River supports operations in a challenging maritime environment near Oregon and Washington. Cases may involve station operations, search and rescue, surf conditions, boat crews, civilian witnesses, local police, operational logs, and off-duty conduct.
Sector Corpus Christi operates in a major Gulf Coast region with port, oil, maritime, and law enforcement activity. Cases may involve boarding teams, station personnel, local police, drug allegations, domestic allegations, Article 120 cases, off-duty incidents, and port-related evidence.
Sector Delaware Bay supports a major maritime region involving Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and the Delaware River system. Cases may involve port security, marine safety, boarding activity, local police, civilian witnesses, command center records, and operational timelines.
Sector Detroit supports Great Lakes and border-region operations. Cases may involve boat crews, law enforcement missions, Canadian border issues, local police, station personnel, command center records, and digital evidence.
Sector Duluth supports upper Great Lakes operations. Cases may involve station personnel, seasonal maritime activity, local police, search and rescue operations, cold-weather operations, and off-duty allegations.
Sector Guam operates in a strategic Pacific environment. Cases may involve Guam police, Navy and Air Force witnesses, local civilian witnesses, off-base incidents, Article 120 allegations, domestic violence, drug cases, and overseas-like logistical concerns.
Sector Honolulu supports Coast Guard operations across Hawaii and the Pacific. Cases may involve local police, host-region witnesses, Coast Guard cutters, air station personnel, off-duty allegations, port operations, digital evidence, and witness movement across islands.
Sector Houston-Galveston operates in one of the most important port and petrochemical regions in the United States. Cases may involve boarding teams, port security, marine safety, local police, ship channel activity, industrial witnesses, Article 120 allegations, fraud cases, and command investigations.
Sector Jacksonville supports Coast Guard operations across northeast Florida and nearby coastal areas. Cases may involve local police, station personnel, boat crews, civilian witnesses, off-duty conduct, Article 120 allegations, domestic violence, and digital evidence.
Sector Key West is a high-tempo operational environment involving maritime law enforcement, migrant interdiction, drug interdiction, search and rescue, and Florida Keys civilian activity. Cases may involve cutter crews, station personnel, local police, boarding records, operational logs, off-duty conduct, and alcohol-related allegations.
Sector Lake Michigan supports operations in a large Great Lakes region. Cases may involve station personnel, seasonal operations, local police, search and rescue records, boating enforcement, Article 120 allegations, domestic violence, and command investigations.
Sector Long Island Sound supports operations near Connecticut, Long Island, New York, and busy maritime corridors. Cases may involve local police, station personnel, port activity, boarding teams, civilian witnesses, digital evidence, and off-duty allegations.
Sector LA-Long Beach operates in one of the nation’s most important port complexes. Cases may involve port security, local police, maritime industry witnesses, boarding records, drug allegations, domestic violence, Article 120 allegations, off-duty incidents, and security issues.
Sector Lower Mississippi supports river operations, port activity, maritime safety, and federal coordination. Cases may involve vessel operators, local police, river industry witnesses, station personnel, command center records, and boarding activity.
Sector Maryland-NCR operates near Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Annapolis, and the Chesapeake region. Cases may involve local police, federal partner agencies, port security, command visibility, Coast Guard Yard Baltimore, Surface Forces Logistics Center, and National Capital Region witnesses.
Sector Miami is a major operational and law enforcement environment. Cases may involve maritime interdiction, migrant operations, drug interdiction, local police, hotel evidence, nightlife allegations, Article 120 cases, domestic violence, and off-duty conduct across South Florida.
Sector Mobile supports Gulf Coast operations involving ports, waterways, search and rescue, maritime industry, and local law enforcement. Cases may involve station personnel, marine safety records, local police, alcohol allegations, domestic cases, and command investigations.
Sector New Orleans operates in a major river, port, and Gulf Coast environment. Cases may involve vessel traffic, maritime industry witnesses, local police, French Quarter or hotel evidence, off-duty allegations, Article 120 cases, drug allegations, and operational records.
Sector New York operates in one of the busiest maritime regions in the United States. Cases may involve port security, ferry operations, local police, federal partners, station personnel, cutter crews, civilian witnesses, digital evidence, and command scrutiny.
Sector North Carolina supports operations across a large coastal and inland waterways region. Cases may involve station personnel, local police, search and rescue, boating enforcement, hurricane response, off-duty conduct, and domestic allegations.
Sector Northern New England supports operations across Maine, New Hampshire, and nearby maritime areas. Cases may involve station personnel, cutter crews, local police, search and rescue operations, fishing industry witnesses, off-duty conduct, and digital evidence.
Sector Ohio Valley supports inland river operations across a wide geographic area. Cases may involve river industry witnesses, marine safety issues, local police, traveling personnel, command center records, and operational logs.
Sector Puget Sound operates in a major maritime and military region near Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, Bremerton, and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Cases may involve local police, Navy witnesses, ferry activity, port security, boat crews, boarding records, and digital evidence.
Sector San Diego supports Coast Guard operations in a major Navy and border-region environment. Cases may involve local police, maritime law enforcement, migrant interdiction, drug interdiction, hotel evidence, off-duty allegations, Article 120 cases, and command investigations.
Sector San Francisco supports operations in the Bay Area, a region with major maritime traffic, local police, ferry operations, port security, civilian witnesses, and complex off-base evidence. Cases may involve Article 120 allegations, domestic violence, drug cases, boarding activity, and command scrutiny.
Sector San Juan supports Coast Guard operations in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. Cases may involve maritime law enforcement, migrant operations, drug interdiction, local police, Spanish-language evidence, hotel records, digital evidence, and witness movement across islands.
Sector Southeastern New England supports operations in Rhode Island, southeastern Massachusetts, and nearby waterways. Cases may involve local police, station personnel, ferry and port activity, boat crews, off-duty conduct, and digital evidence.
Sector St. Petersburg supports operations along Florida’s Gulf Coast. Cases may involve search and rescue, maritime law enforcement, local police, beach and hotel evidence, alcohol allegations, Article 120 cases, domestic violence, and off-duty conduct.
Sector Upper Mississippi supports inland river operations. Cases may involve river industry witnesses, marine safety activity, local police, traveling members, operational logs, and dispersed witness issues.
Sector Upper Great Lakes supports operations across remote and challenging waterways. Cases may involve station personnel, seasonal operations, local police, search and rescue, maritime safety, and off-duty allegations.
Sector Virginia operates in the Hampton Roads region near major Navy, Army, and Coast Guard commands. Cases may involve local police, port security, Navy witnesses, shipyard activity, boarding records, domestic violence, Article 120 allegations, and complex joint-service evidence.
Sector Western Rivers supports inland river operations across a broad region. Cases may involve vessel operators, river industry witnesses, local police, marine safety records, traveling members, and dispersed evidence.
Aviation Technical Training Center Elizabeth City supports Coast Guard aviation training and technical instruction. Cases may involve aviation maintenance records, instructor-student issues, training records, safety concerns, digital evidence, off-base conduct in North Carolina, and student witness movement.
Coast Guard Air Stations support aviation operations, search and rescue, law enforcement support, logistics, and emergency response. UCMJ cases may involve flight records, maintenance records, aviation safety, instructor issues, aircraft mishaps, drug allegations, Article 120 cases, domestic violence, and local police evidence.
Coast Guard Base Alameda supports Coast Guard operations in the San Francisco Bay Area and Pacific region. Cases may involve local police, Bay Area civilian witnesses, cutter support, aviation support, command records, digital evidence, and off-duty conduct.
Coast Guard Base Boston supports personnel, logistics, and operational activity in Massachusetts. Cases may involve Sector Boston, local police, cutter crews, station personnel, command records, Article 120 allegations, domestic violence, and digital evidence.
Coast Guard Base Seattle supports Coast Guard activity in the Pacific Northwest. Cases may involve Sector Puget Sound, local police, maritime witnesses, cutter crews, ferry operations, port security, off-duty conduct, and digital evidence.
Coast Guard Yard Baltimore is a major industrial and repair facility. Cases may involve civilian employees, contractors, industrial records, worksite witnesses, safety allegations, property issues, fraud, false statements, workplace misconduct, and local Maryland evidence.
Maritime Law Enforcement Academy Charleston supports law enforcement training. Cases may involve student conduct, instructor allegations, use-of-force issues, boarding officer training, weapons training, academic integrity, digital evidence, local police, and off-duty conduct.
National Maritime Center Martinsburg supports merchant mariner credentialing and maritime regulatory functions. Cases may involve administrative records, official communications, integrity allegations, civilian employees, contractors, digital evidence, and local West Virginia evidence.
Operations Systems Center Martinsburg supports Coast Guard information systems and operational technology. Cases may involve computer systems, official records, cyber or communications issues, access logs, government devices, false statements, security concerns, and digital evidence.
Surface Forces Logistics Center Baltimore supports Coast Guard cutters, boats, engineering, logistics, maintenance, and surface fleet readiness. Cases may involve engineering records, supply records, contractor witnesses, maintenance documents, fraud, larceny, false statements, safety issues, and command investigations.
Training Center Cape May is the Coast Guard’s enlisted recruit training center. Cases may involve recruit training, company commanders, trainee witnesses, training records, dormitory or barracks evidence, instructor-student allegations, hazing, maltreatment, Article 120 allegations, drug cases, and local New Jersey evidence.
Training Center Petaluma supports Coast Guard training in California. Cases may involve student misconduct, instructor issues, training records, digital evidence, local police, off-duty incidents, academic integrity, harassment, and command investigations.
Training Center Yorktown supports advanced Coast Guard training in Virginia. Cases may involve student witnesses, instructor issues, training records, local police, Hampton Roads evidence, off-duty allegations, Article 120 cases, and digital evidence.
Coast Guard members may face the full range of UCMJ charges. Many cases arise from off-duty conduct. Others arise from operational decisions, cutter life, law enforcement boardings, student training, aviation operations, or local civilian police contact.
Many Coast Guard cases begin before the member realizes the situation is serious. A supervisor may ask questions. A command may request a memo. CGIS may ask for an interview. A local police report may reach the command. A complainant may tell a friend, a supervisor, a victim advocate, or a medical provider.
A typical Coast Guard case may involve:
The first statement matters. A Coast Guard member should not assume that a command interview is informal. A written response, apology, timeline, or explanation can later be used as evidence.
Coast Guard cases can move quickly. The service is smaller than the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force. Reputations travel fast. Command relationships are close. Witnesses often know each other. A case can become personal before it becomes formal.
Early defense action can help preserve favorable evidence, protect the member from damaging statements, and identify weaknesses before the command narrative becomes fixed.
Early defense action can help preserve:
Waiting can be dangerous. Evidence disappears. Witness memories change. Civilian video gets overwritten. Cutter crews deploy. Students graduate. Commands develop assumptions. CGIS may build a theory before the defense has preserved the facts.
Article 120 cases in the Coast Guard often involve small communities and complicated relationships. The accused and complainant may serve in the same unit. They may know the same people. They may have exchanged messages before and after the incident. They may work on the same cutter, attend the same school, live near each other, or share a close social circle.
These cases may involve:
The defense must move beyond generic denial. It must build a timeline. It must preserve digital evidence. It must identify motive, bias, inconsistent conduct, inconsistent statements, and missing evidence. It must prepare for cross-examination and litigation from the beginning.
Domestic violence and assault cases often begin with civilian police. A local 911 call can trigger both civilian and military action. Even if the civilian case is dismissed, reduced, or unresolved, the command may still act.
Evidence may include:
A Coast Guard member may face NJP, a reprimand, loss of law enforcement duties, relief from position, separation, or court-martial based on a civilian allegation. The defense must address both the facts and the career consequences.
Coast Guard law enforcement cases can involve unique evidence. A boarding team member, boarding officer, coxswain, or operational commander may be accused of misconduct during a law enforcement mission.
These cases may involve:
The defense must understand the operational setting. A boarding decision may look different from a courtroom than it looked on the water. A use-of-force allegation may depend on timing, training, sea state, safety, commands, threat perception, and incomplete records.
Training centers often create high-risk cases because of the relationship between instructors and students. Training Center Cape May, Training Center Petaluma, Training Center Yorktown, Aviation Technical Training Center Elizabeth City, and the Maritime Law Enforcement Academy Charleston each have unique risks.
Training cases may involve:
The defense must preserve evidence quickly. Students may leave the command. Instructors may be reassigned. Command climate concerns may influence how leadership views the case. A fair defense requires immediate attention to records, timelines, and witness statements.
Coast Guard aviation cases can involve air stations, aviation training, maintenance, search and rescue, operational readiness, and safety-sensitive duties. A service member assigned to aviation may face both UCMJ action and qualification consequences.
Aviation-related cases may involve:
The defense must account for career impact. A case may threaten aviation status, qualifications, assignments, evaluations, and future employment.
Support commands may not look like high-risk military justice environments, but they often involve records-heavy cases. The National Maritime Center, Operations Systems Center, Surface Forces Logistics Center, Coast Guard Yard, and other support commands may generate cases involving official documents, systems, credentials, technology, contracts, and government property.
These cases may involve:
The defense must determine whether the allegation is criminal, administrative, technical, or based on incomplete records. Not every paperwork problem is fraud. Not every computer issue is criminal misconduct. Not every inconsistent statement is a knowing false official statement.
A Coast Guard member facing court-martial generally has the right to detailed military defense counsel. Civilian military defense counsel does not replace detailed military counsel. Civilian counsel can work alongside the detailed military lawyer.
Civilian counsel can bring independent investigation, family communication, digital evidence review, witness preparation, cross-examination strategy, and continuity outside the command structure.
In Coast Guard cases, civilian defense counsel may need to review evidence from many sources. These may include CGIS reports, military police records, command emails, watch bills, cutter logs, station logs, command center records, aviation records, training records, student records, boarding reports, law enforcement records, radio logs, body-camera footage, local police records, phone extractions, text messages, app messages, emails, social media, hotel records, rideshare records, civilian court records, protective order records, urinalysis documents, and adverse administrative paperwork.
Gonzalez & Waddington represents service members worldwide in serious military cases. The firm defends clients in courts-martial, Article 120 cases, Article 128 and 128b cases, CID, NCIS, OSI, CGIS investigations, Article 15/NJP actions, Boards of Inquiry, administrative separations, letters of reprimand, security clearance matters, fraud cases, violent offenses, digital evidence cases, and other serious UCMJ matters.
Coast Guard members assigned to sectors, air stations, bases, cutters, training centers, logistics centers, maritime law enforcement commands, systems commands, and support units can face serious UCMJ consequences from allegations tied to off-duty conduct, CGIS investigations, civilian police contact, Article 120 allegations, domestic violence, drug cases, law enforcement boardings, training issues, digital evidence, government records, security concerns, and command investigations.
A civilian military defense lawyer can work alongside detailed military defense counsel in courts-martial, Article 120 cases, NJP matters, letters of reprimand, administrative separations, Boards of Inquiry, relief-for-cause matters, security clearance cases, and command investigations.
Because Coast Guard commands are often small, operational, law-enforcement-focused, geographically dispersed, and closely connected to civilian authorities, defense strategy should account for command records, civilian evidence, operational logs, witness movement, CGIS investigative practices, digital evidence, and long-term career consequences.
Yes. Coast Guard members have the right to military defense counsel and may also retain civilian defense counsel. Civilian counsel can assist during CGIS investigations, command inquiries, NJP, administrative separations, Boards of Inquiry, Article 32 hearings, and courts-martial.
Serious UCMJ cases may include Article 120 sexual assault allegations, assault, domestic violence, drug offenses, fraud, larceny, false official statements, law enforcement misconduct, hazing, maltreatment, orders violations, digital evidence cases, and other felony-level military charges.
Yes. Investigations often begin long before charges are preferred. CGIS may request interviews, collect witness statements, review phone data, obtain digital evidence, and coordinate with command authorities before the member understands the full risk.
Yes. A civilian arrest, police report, protective order, or local criminal case can trigger command action. The command may consider NJP, adverse paperwork, administrative separation, relief for cause, clearance review, or court-martial.
They can be. Coast Guard cases often involve small units, law enforcement records, cutter logs, boarding reports, civilian police evidence, maritime witnesses, station records, command center records, and witnesses who know each other closely.
Yes. The Coast Guard does not always wait for civilian courts. A command may issue adverse paperwork, impose restrictions, initiate NJP, remove a member from duties, or begin separation action while the civilian case is still pending.
Yes. A member may face NJP, a reprimand, relief for cause, loss of qualifications, removal from law enforcement duties, administrative separation, a Board of Inquiry, security clearance problems, or career-ending evaluations even when no court-martial occurs.
Gonzalez & Waddington, LLC is a civilian military defense law firm representing service members worldwide. The firm handles military criminal defense, court-martial litigation, UCMJ investigations, administrative separation boards, Boards of Inquiry, letters of reprimand rebuttals, Article 15/NJP matters, sexual assault defense, violent offense defense, fraud cases, digital evidence cases, and other high-stakes military legal matters.
Michael Waddington is a former Army officer and former Army JAG. He has served as an Army Trial Defense Counsel, Senior Defense Counsel, Army prosecutor, Special Assistant United States Attorney, and Chief of Military Justice. He has more than 25 years of military defense experience and is admitted to all U.S. military trial courts worldwide.
Alexandra González-Waddington is a founding partner, former public defender, and experienced military defense lawyer. She is admitted to all U.S. military trial courts worldwide and has defended service members in sexual assault, violent crime, war crimes, murder, classified-information, domestic violence, and white-collar cases.
For Coast Guard members, that background matters. Coast Guard cases may involve CGIS investigations, small-unit pressure, command assumptions, civilian police evidence, law enforcement records, Article 120 allegations, boarding records, cutter logs, training records, digital evidence, witness movement, and serious UCMJ consequences.
If you are a Coast Guard member under investigation, do not wait. Get legal guidance before making statements or submitting paperwork that may be used against you later.
Gonzalez & Waddington can work alongside detailed military defense counsel. The firm can help review the evidence, preserve favorable information, prepare for command decisions, and build a defense strategy that accounts for both the military case and the Coast Guard operational environment.
Call Gonzalez & Waddington at 1-800-921-8607 or text 954-799-4019 to request a confidential consultation. No attorney can guarantee a result. The goal is to intervene early, protect your rights, and help you make informed decisions before the command or prosecution theory hardens.
Our experienced military defense lawyers provide comprehensive support for service members facing administrative boards, UCMJ charges, and investigations. We fight to protect your career, rights, and future.
