Former Army JAG and Senior Defense Counsel 25+ years defending service members Courts-martial defense worldwide
Reviewed by Michael Waddington, Founding Partner Updated October 8, 2026
Gonzalez & Waddington defends Air Force officers, enlisted members, PME students, instructors, and headquarters personnel at Maxwell AFB in courts-martial, Article 15 proceedings, administrative separation boards, Boards of Inquiry, and security clearance actions.
Attorneys Michael Waddington and Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington represent service members facing OSI investigations and courts-martial at Maxwell AFB, traveling to Montgomery and Gunter Annex from the first moment of an investigation. OSI inquiries at Maxwell — an installation anchoring Air University, the 42nd Air Base Wing, Air War College, Air Command and Staff College, and Officer Training School — can escalate quickly to formal charges, separation, or clearance revocation.
Maxwell AFB sits inside Montgomery, Alabama, and its leadership-dense, education-focused mission shapes every case. Allegations here can span instructor-student dynamics, PME records, student files, and Montgomery Police reports, intersecting across multiple commands and the surrounding River Region — with civilian witnesses, off-base digital evidence, and Gunter Annex records all potentially in play.
Contact Gonzalez & Waddington at 1-800-921-8607 for a free, confidential consultation about your Maxwell AFB case.
Maxwell Air Force Base is one of the most important Air Force education and command installations in Alabama. It is located in Montgomery near Gunter Annex, Prattville, Millbrook, Wetumpka, Pike Road, Montgomery County, Autauga County, and the broader River Region.
Maxwell is not a routine Air Force base. It supports Air University, professional military education, officer development, leadership training, doctrine, command programs, legal education, headquarters functions, security forces, medical support, and joint-service activity.
Service members at Maxwell AFB may face UCMJ investigations that begin on base, off base, in housing, during training, during PME, during TDY, during student status, or after contact with Alabama law enforcement.
Cases may involve:
Gonzalez & Waddington defends service members stationed at Maxwell Air Force Base in serious UCMJ matters. The firm handles courts-martial, Article 15 actions, letters of reprimand, administrative separation boards, Boards of Inquiry, and security clearance matters.
An allegation at Maxwell can threaten a military career quickly. This is especially true for officers, students, instructors, faculty, staff members, headquarters personnel, security forces, medical personnel, and anyone in a leadership or clearance-sensitive position.
Maxwell cases often involve more than a simple command investigation. A case may include PME records, student files, instructor-student dynamics, command emails, campus witnesses, Alabama police reports, hotel evidence, rideshare data, phone records, and civilian witnesses from the Montgomery area.
If you are accused of a UCMJ offense at or near Maxwell AFB, do not wait for the command’s theory to harden. This includes Article 120 sexual assault, abusive sexual contact, domestic violence, assault, DUI, drug misconduct, fraud, larceny, false official statement, orders violations, harassment, stalking, threats, online misconduct, security violations, and off-base misconduct in Alabama.
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 service members worldwide.
Service members stationed at Maxwell Air Force Base remain subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. That authority applies on base, off base, during training, during PME, during TDY, and while assigned to any Maxwell command.
A Maxwell UCMJ case may involve the military justice system, the command, OSI, CID, NCIS, CGIS, military police, Alabama law enforcement, civilian witnesses, digital evidence, official records, and training records.
The mission environment is serious. Maxwell supports Air University, professional military education, officer development, leadership programs, command functions, legal education, security forces, medical support, and mission support.
That environment affects how cases are handled. Commands may act quickly when allegations involve violence, sexual misconduct, alcohol, drugs, fraud, security concerns, instructor-student issues, leadership integrity, public visibility, or command climate.
Early defense action matters. It can preserve favorable evidence. It can also protect the service member before statements are made to investigators, command representatives, or legal advisors.
Maxwell is an Air Force education, leadership, and command-focused installation. It is also located in a major Alabama city with a large civilian community surrounding the base.
That combination changes how UCMJ cases develop. A Maxwell case may involve officer students, PME records, instructors, faculty, headquarters personnel, Montgomery police, local civilians, hotel evidence, rideshare records, and digital communications.
A Maxwell military justice case may include:
The defense must move fast. Video can be overwritten. Students can graduate. Witnesses can PCS. Phone data may be lost. Hotel and rideshare records may disappear. Command assumptions can harden before the defense has the full record.
Maxwell Air Force Base is located in Montgomery, Alabama. It is closely tied to Gunter Annex, Prattville, Millbrook, Wetumpka, Pike Road, Montgomery County, Autauga County, and Elmore County.
The base supports Air University, officer education, leadership development, headquarters functions, training programs, medical support, base security, and mission support.
That mission creates a unique defense environment. A case may involve Air Force records, student witnesses, instructors, contractors, faculty, command staff, access logs, command emails, local police evidence, or witnesses from multiple services.
Service members may live on base, in privatized housing, or off base. They may visit downtown Montgomery, Eastchase, Prattville, Millbrook, local restaurants, hotels, bars, or other areas in the River Region.
Those local facts matter. Off-base conduct can quickly become a military legal problem. An Alabama police report can lead to an Article 15, reprimand, separation, Board of Inquiry, security clearance review, or court-martial.
The mission area often shapes the evidence. It also affects command pressure, witness access, and career consequences.
A PME-related allegation is different from an Article 120 case. An instructor allegation is different from a false official statement case. A local civilian arrest requires a strategy that accounts for both the Alabama case and the military consequences.
Maxwell AFB is part of a large military and civilian community. Nearby areas include Montgomery, Prattville, Millbrook, Wetumpka, Pike Road, and the broader River Region.
Service members may attend official events, visit restaurants, stay in hotels, use rideshares, live off base, or interact with civilian police.
Off-base incidents can quickly become military cases. A DUI arrest, domestic call, assault allegation, hotel incident, drug issue, civilian complaint, protective order concern, or local police report can lead to command action.
Local evidence may include:
A defense strategy must account for both systems. An Alabama civilian matter may continue while the command separately considers UCMJ or administrative action.
The following examples are hypothetical. They are not claims about any actual case, command, business, service member, civilian, contractor, or witness. They show how local facts can matter when a service member at Maxwell AFB is accused of misconduct.
Service members at Maxwell may face UCMJ allegations tied to Air University, officer education, instructor-student relationships, off-base conduct, digital communications, travel, command investigations, or local police contact.
Once a case enters the court-martial system, the stakes increase. The result can affect liberty, rank, clearance, graduation, PCS, future assignments, civilian employment, and reputation.
Your rights in an OSI interview. Article 31(b) of the UCMJ gives you the right to know what you are suspected of and to remain silent, and you may ask for a lawyer before any questioning by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI). Declining to answer is not an admission. At Maxwell AFB, as anywhere, the safest first step is to say you want to speak with counsel and then stop talking.
Titling can follow you. OSI can title you as the subject of an investigation, which indexes your name in the Defense Central Index of Investigations, on a low "credible information" standard. Titling is not a finding of guilt, but the record can surface in later background and security clearance checks even if no charges are ever brought.
Who decides whether you are charged. For covered offenses, including sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking, kidnapping, murder, child pornography and, since 2025, sexual harassment, the decision to prefer and refer charges belongs to an independent special trial counsel rather than your commander at Maxwell AFB. For other offenses the command still decides. Which track a case is on shapes the defense from the first day.
Family and relationship allegations. Domestic violence is charged under Article 128b, and strangulation or suffocation can be charged as aggravated assault whether or not there is a mark. The hidden cost is the Lautenberg Amendment: a qualifying conviction bars possession of firearms and ammunition, which few military careers survive.
Drug allegations. Article 112a of the UCMJ applies to service members at Maxwell AFB on post and off, separately from Alabama law. A positive urinalysis is serious but contestable: the chain of custody, the testing process and innocent ingestion can all be challenged, and the government must prove the use was knowing and wrongful.
BAH and allowance cases. An overpayment is a debt, not a crime. To convict under Article 121 (larceny) or Article 124 (frauds against the United States), the government must prove intent, and that is where many BAH cases fall apart once the paperwork history is reconstructed.
If you are under investigation at Maxwell AFB, talk to a military defense lawyer before you make any statement. Call Gonzalez & Waddington at 1-800-921-8607.
Many Maxwell military justice cases begin with a complaint, command notification, rights advisement, local police report, command-directed inquiry, training report, security report, or request for an interview.
A typical case may involve:
Investigators often seek statements early. Those statements can shape the government’s theory. A service member should not assume an interview is harmless because charges have not yet been filed.
Maxwell cases can move quickly. Many involve training records, digital evidence, local civilian evidence, command pressure, student timelines, instructor witnesses, and professional reputation.
Evidence can disappear or become difficult to obtain. CCTV, rideshare records, hotel records, phone data, restaurant records, campus records, and civilian witness memories may not remain available for long.
Witness movement is also a major issue. Service members may graduate, PCS, deploy, separate, transfer commands, or leave Alabama before the defense has a chance to interview them.
Early defense action can help preserve favorable evidence. It can also identify gaps, inconsistencies, and unsupported assumptions before the command’s view becomes fixed.
This is especially important in cases involving Article 120 allegations, instructor-student allegations, off-base incidents, local police contact, digital evidence, drug allegations, contradictory witness accounts, security issues, or clearance concerns.
Article 120 cases may involve dorm rooms, hotels, apartments, off-base social events, alcohol, dating apps, delayed reports, text messages, app messages, social media, phone extractions, and civilian witnesses from Montgomery or nearby areas.
These cases often turn on consent, credibility, intoxication, timing, digital evidence, witness contamination, and command assumptions.
Maxwell cases may involve student status, instructor authority, course rules, professional boundaries, academic records, counseling forms, performance issues, and allegations of favoritism or harassment.
The defense must determine whether the allegation is criminal, administrative, disciplinary, or based on misunderstanding, rumor, or incomplete context.
Domestic violence and assault cases may involve military police reports, Alabama police reports, 911 calls, body-camera footage, medical records, photographs, protective orders, Family Advocacy records, text messages, and command no-contact orders.
Even if the civilian case is reduced or dismissed, the command may still pursue Article 15, adverse paperwork, separation, Board of Inquiry, or clearance-related action.
Because Maxwell supports professional education and leadership development, some cases may involve integrity, access, sensitive information, security managers, or clearance concerns.
The defense must address both the UCMJ case and the career risks tied to credibility, trustworthiness, and command confidence.
These cases may involve travel cards, official claims, housing records, TDY, leave forms, official reports, emails, text messages, receipts, duty logs, or command-directed inquiries.
The defense must evaluate whether the government can prove intent. It must also determine whether records are complete and whether administrative mistakes are being treated as crimes.
A positive urinalysis, prescription issue, alcohol-related incident, DUI arrest, or property search can lead to adverse paperwork, Article 15, separation processing, or clearance concerns.
For service members in PME, instructor roles, student status, headquarters positions, security forces, medical, command, or clearance-sensitive roles, administrative consequences may move faster than the criminal process.
Military criminal cases are not routine administrative matters. A serious allegation can threaten confinement, punitive discharge, rank, pay, clearance, reputation, and long-term career prospects.
A civilian military defense lawyer provides independent trial-focused representation. The goal is to protect the client early and prepare the case as if it may be litigated in court.
A service 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 Maxwell cases, civilian defense counsel may need to review evidence from many sources. These may include OSI reports, CID reports, NCIS reports, CGIS reports, military police records, command emails, travel records, duty rosters, training records, student files, instructor records, campus records, safety records, access records, phone extractions, text messages, app messages, emails, social media, hotel records, rideshare records, Alabama police 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, and 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.
Service members stationed at Maxwell Air Force Base can face military consequences from allegations tied to Air University, PME, officer training, instructor roles, student status, off-base conduct, Alabama police contact, digital evidence, leadership integrity, and command investigations.
A civilian military defense lawyer can work alongside detailed military defense counsel in courts-martial, Article 120 cases, Article 15 matters, letters of reprimand, administrative separations, Boards of Inquiry, security clearance matters, and command investigations.
Because Maxwell is an Air Force, Air University, professional military education, leadership-training, and Montgomery-based military environment, defense strategy should account for training records, digital evidence, local civilian evidence, command pressure, student and instructor witness movement, security concerns, and long-term military career consequences.
Being falsely accused of sexual assault and domestic violence was the most difficult experience of my life. Overnight, my freedom, military career, reputation, and future were all on the line.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case is different.
Yes. Service members have the right to military defense counsel and may also retain civilian defense counsel. Civilian counsel can assist during investigations, Article 32 hearings, courts-martial, Article 15 proceedings, administrative separations, Boards of Inquiry, and rebuttals to adverse paperwork.
Serious UCMJ cases may include Article 120 sexual assault allegations, assault, domestic violence, drug offenses, fraud, false official statements, orders violations, fraternization, instructor-student misconduct, digital evidence cases, and other felony-level military charges.
Yes. Investigations often begin long before charges are preferred. Investigators may request interviews, collect witness statements, search devices, and review digital or official records before the service member fully understands the risk.
Yes. A civilian arrest, police report, protective order, or local criminal case can trigger command action. The command may consider Article 15, adverse paperwork, administrative separation, Board of Inquiry, clearance review, or court-martial.
They can be. Maxwell cases may involve Air University, PME records, officer students, instructor-student allegations, training records, campus evidence, command visibility, local civilian evidence, and clearance concerns.
Yes. The military does not always wait for civilian courts. A command may issue adverse paperwork, impose restrictions, initiate Article 15 proceedings, or begin separation action while the Alabama case is still pending.
No. Article 31(b) of the UCMJ requires investigators to tell you what you are suspected of and that you have the right to remain silent, and you can ask for a lawyer before answering anything. An interview is evidence collection, and OSI can title you as a subject on a low "credible information" standard that can follow you into background and clearance checks even if the case is dropped. Politely decline, ask for counsel, and call a military defense lawyer before you say anything.
Gonzalez & Waddington, LLC is a civilian military defense law firm representing service members worldwide. The firm focuses on 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 service members at Maxwell Air Force Base, that background matters. Cases at this installation may involve training records, local police records, command pressure, digital messages, security issues, Article 120 allegations, instructor-student dynamics, leadership integrity concerns, and serious UCMJ consequences.
If you are stationed at Maxwell Air Force Base and are 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 Maxwell training 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.
This video explains what your rights are and how experienced criminal defense lawyers can make a difference.
Facing a military investigation, UCMJ allegation, or serious criminal charge? Gonzalez & Waddington provides trial-focused defense for high-stakes cases. Call 1-800-921-8607 or text 954-799-4019 for a confidential, no-cost consultation.
