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 U.S. Army soldiers stationed or rotating through Poland — at Camp Kościuszko in Poznań, Powidz, Żagań, Świętoszów, Bemowo Piskie, and across all eleven USAG Poland installations — in courts-martial, Article 15 actions, GOMOR rebuttals, administrative separation boards, Boards of Inquiry, and security clearance proceedings.
Attorneys Michael Waddington and Alexandra Gonzalez-Waddington are aggressive civilian military defense lawyers who represent service members throughout Poland and worldwide, traveling to wherever the case demands. CID investigates Army misconduct across USAG Poland’s installations, and because Trial Defense Service counsel are based in Germany, soldiers here often face investigations with little immediate legal support on the ground.
Poland cases are unlike stateside matters. V Corps Forward, rotational Armored Brigade Combat Teams at Żagań and Świętoszów, Combat Aviation Brigade elements at Powidz, and multinational NATO eFP forces at Bemowo Piskie all feed cases involving off-post conduct in Poznań or nearby communities, Polish police records, host-nation witnesses, language barriers, and digital evidence gathered across several commands.
Call Gonzalez & Waddington at 1-800-921-8607 for a free, confidential consultation before investigators or your command define the record against you.
Poland is one of the most important U.S. and NATO military locations in Eastern Europe. U.S. service members stationed or rotating through Poland operate in a high-tempo environment tied to deterrence, NATO readiness, armored movements, aviation support, logistics, and forward operations along the alliance’s eastern flank.
Poland is not a routine overseas assignment. Many U.S. forces are rotational. Units may move through training sites, staging areas, airfields, logistics hubs, and multinational command environments.
Service members in Poland may face UCMJ investigations that begin on base, off base, during training, during movement, during liberty, during TDY, during a rotational deployment, or after contact with Polish law enforcement.
Cases may involve:
Gonzalez & Waddington defends U.S. service members stationed or rotating through Poland in serious UCMJ matters. The firm handles courts-martial, Article 15/NJP actions, GOMOR rebuttals, letters of reprimand, administrative separation boards, Boards of Inquiry, and security clearance matters.
An allegation in Poland can threaten a career quickly. This is especially true for service members assigned to USAG Poland, V Corps Forward, armored brigade rotations, aviation support, logistics units, missile defense missions, multinational exercises, and NATO-facing operations.
Poland cases are different from stateside cases. They may involve host-nation law enforcement, Polish witnesses, language issues, overseas digital evidence, local hotels, taxis, off-post restaurants, training areas, operational movement records, deployment timelines, and command pressure tied to NATO readiness.
If you are accused of a UCMJ offense in Poland, 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, child exploitation, online misconduct, liberty violations, black-market allegations, and off-post misconduct.
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.
U.S. service members stationed or temporarily assigned in Poland remain subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. That authority follows the service member overseas.
A case in Poland may involve the military justice system, the command, military investigators, Polish authorities, Polish civilian witnesses, NATO partners, and overseas evidence issues.
The mission environment is high stakes. Poland supports NATO deterrence, Eastern European readiness, armored operations, air mobility, logistics, missile defense, and multinational training.
That environment affects how cases are handled. Commands may act quickly when allegations involve violence, sexual misconduct, off-post conduct, alcohol, drugs, operational readiness, mission security, command climate, or international visibility.
Early defense action can help preserve favorable evidence. It can also protect the service member before statements are made to investigators, command representatives, or host-nation officials.
Poland is an overseas military environment with rotational units, forward operations, and multinational command structures. A case may involve U.S. military law, Polish evidence, command policy, language issues, and host-nation coordination.
That changes the defense strategy.
A Poland UCMJ case may involve:
The defense must move fast. Overseas evidence can disappear. Witnesses can leave the country. Video may be overwritten. Phone data may be lost. Command assumptions can harden before the defense has access to the full record.
Poland has become one of the most strategically important U.S. military locations in Europe. It supports NATO’s eastern flank, forward deterrence, training, logistics, air mobility, and regional defense planning.
U.S. forces in Poland often operate in rotational or forward-deployed structures. That can create tight timelines. Units may arrive, train, move, and depart while an investigation is still developing.
This creates practical defense challenges. Witnesses may be attached to different units. Records may be held by multiple commands. Evidence may be located at different training areas or host-nation locations.
For service members, the consequences can be severe. A UCMJ case may affect liberty, rank, clearance, deployment status, PCS, promotion, reenlistment, retirement, and future civilian employment.
Poland has several U.S. and NATO-connected locations that may matter in a military justice case. Each location has its own mission, local setting, and evidence issues.
USAG Poland in Poznań supports command, coordination, and forward Army operations in Poland.
Cases near Poznań may involve headquarters personnel, staff records, travel documents, off-post apartments, restaurants, hotels, local police records, and Polish civilian witnesses.
USAG Poland Powidz supports logistics, air mobility, equipment movement, and forward positioning.
Cases near Powidz may involve travel records, transportation logs, logistics documents, host-nation support personnel, unit movement, and witnesses who rotate in and out of the area.
USAG Poland Drawsko Pomorskie is tied to training and field operations.
Cases in that environment may involve field exercises, rotational units, training schedules, barracks or temporary lodging, alcohol incidents, movement records, and witnesses who leave after the exercise ends.
Żagań has supported armored brigade rotations and NATO readiness missions. Cases may involve field training, armored formations, vehicle operations, unit movement, command climate, and off-post conduct near training areas.
Redzikowo is associated with missile defense operations. Cases connected to that mission may involve security rules, technical records, access restrictions, clearance concerns, and sensitive command oversight.
The following examples are hypothetical. They are not claims about any actual case, command, business, service member, Polish citizen, or witness. They show how local facts can matter when a U.S. service member in Poland is accused of misconduct.
Service members in Poland may face UCMJ allegations tied to off-post conduct, alcohol, training rotations, digital communications, host-nation police contact, travel, logistics, command investigations, or operational duties.
Once a case enters the court-martial system, the stakes increase. The result can affect liberty, rank, retirement, clearance, deployment status, PCS, future assignments, civilian employment, and reputation.
Your rights in an military investigators 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 military investigators (CID, OSI, NCIS or CGIS). Declining to answer is not an admission. At Poland, as anywhere, the safest first step is to say you want to speak with counsel and then stop talking.
Being titled is not the same as being charged. Investigators can title a service member and index the name in the Defense Central Index of Investigations on only "credible information." The case may go nowhere, yet the entry can resurface years later in background investigations and clearance reviews, so how the investigation is handled from the start matters.
Your commander may not be the one deciding. Covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking, kidnapping, murder, child pornography and (since 2025) sexual harassment are now controlled by an independent Office of Special Trial Counsel, which decides whether charges are preferred and referred. Other allegations at Poland still go through the chain of command.
Domestic violence allegations. Article 128b covers violence against a spouse, intimate partner or family member, and an allegation of strangulation or suffocation can be charged as aggravated assault even without a visible injury. A qualifying conviction can also trigger the federal firearms ban under the Lautenberg Amendment, which can end a career that requires carrying a weapon.
Drug and off-duty allegations overseas. Article 112a of the UCMJ applies to service members in Poland whatever local law allows, and host-nation authorities may also have jurisdiction under the Status of Forces Agreement. A positive urinalysis can still be challenged on chain of custody, testing and innocent ingestion.
Pay and allowance allegations. BAH and other allowance cases are usually charged as larceny under Article 121 or as frauds against the United States under Article 124. An overpayment by itself is not a crime: the government must prove you intended to steal or defraud, and many of these cases begin as paperwork errors.
If you are under investigation at Poland, talk to a military defense lawyer before you make any statement. Call Gonzalez & Waddington at 1-800-921-8607.
Many Poland military justice cases begin with a complaint, command notification, rights advisement, host-nation police 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.
Poland cases can move quickly. Many involve rotational units, overseas witnesses, host-nation evidence, translation issues, phone data, off-post records, command pressure, and mission-related timelines.
Evidence can disappear or become difficult to obtain. CCTV, taxi records, hotel records, phone data, club or restaurant records, access logs, and civilian witness memories may not remain available for long.
Witness movement is also a major issue. Service members may redeploy, rotate, PCS, or leave Poland before the defense has a chance to interview them.
Early defense action can help preserve favorable evidence. It can also identify gaps, inconsistencies, translation problems, and unsupported assumptions before the command’s view becomes fixed.
This is especially important in cases involving Article 120 allegations, off-post incidents, host-nation police contact, digital evidence, drug allegations, contradictory witness accounts, or clearance concerns.
Article 120 cases may involve barracks rooms, hotels, apartments, off-post social events, alcohol, dating apps, delayed reports, text messages, WhatsApp messages, Signal messages, social media, phone extractions, and Polish civilian witnesses.
These cases often turn on consent, credibility, intoxication, timing, digital evidence, witness contamination, and command assumptions.
Domestic violence and assault cases may involve military police, Polish police reports, medical records, photographs, protective orders, Family Advocacy records, text messages, and command no-contact orders.
Even if host-nation or civilian action is reduced or unresolved, the command may still pursue Article 15, adverse paperwork, separation, Board of Inquiry, or clearance-related action.
A positive urinalysis, prescription issue, DUI, drunk-and-disorderly allegation, liberty violation, or off-post incident can lead to adverse paperwork, Article 15, separation processing, or clearance concerns.
For service members in forward-deployed or high-visibility units, administrative consequences may move faster than the criminal process.
These cases may involve travel cards, official claims, TDY, lodging, rental cars, fuel records, orders, leave forms, official reports, emails, text messages, 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.
Military criminal cases overseas 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 Poland cases, civilian defense counsel may need to review evidence from many sources. These may include CID reports, OSI reports, NCIS reports, CGIS reports, command emails, host-nation police records, military police records, official records, TDY records, duty rosters, phone extractions, text messages, social media, WhatsApp messages, Signal messages, hotel records, CCTV, taxi data, rental car 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, GOMOR rebuttals, security clearance matters, fraud cases, violent offenses, digital evidence cases, and other serious UCMJ matters.
U.S. service members stationed or rotating through Poland can face military consequences from both on-base and off-base allegations. Cases may involve USAG Poland, Poznań, Powidz, Drawsko Pomorskie, Żagań, Redzikowo, Polish police records, host-nation witnesses, digital evidence, and command investigations.
A civilian military defense lawyer can work alongside detailed military defense counsel in courts-martial, Article 120 cases, Article 15/NJP matters, letters of reprimand, GOMOR rebuttals, administrative separations, Boards of Inquiry, security clearance matters, and command investigations.
Because Poland is a forward-deployed, NATO-facing, rotational-force environment, defense strategy should account for host-nation evidence, translation issues, app messages, local witnesses, training records, travel records, command pressure, and long-term military career consequences.
My husband was falsely accused, and it was an incredibly long and difficult process for our family. Throughout everything, Michael was supportive, compassionate, and always available to answer any questions or concerns we had.
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, 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. Host-nation police contact can trigger command action. The command may consider Article 15, adverse paperwork, administrative separation, Board of Inquiry, clearance review, or court-martial even if the local matter is unresolved.
Yes. Poland cases may involve host-nation police, Polish civilian witnesses, translation issues, overseas digital evidence, local CCTV, taxi records, hotel records, command policy, and rotational witnesses.
Yes. The military does not always wait for host-nation proceedings. A command may issue adverse paperwork, impose restrictions, initiate Article 15 proceedings, or begin separation action while local issues are 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 military investigators 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, GOMOR and letter 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 in Poland, that background matters. Cases in Eastern Europe may involve host-nation evidence, rotational witnesses, NATO command pressure, digital messages, Article 120 allegations, training records, and serious UCMJ consequences.
If you are stationed or rotating through Poland 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 overseas Poland 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.
