AWOL, bad conduct, criminality. Courts-martial, detention, punitive discharges. What has changed since World War II in the kind of trouble soldiers, sailors, Marines and Air Force service members get into and how the United States military responds? Are infractions by officers and enlisted personnel dealt with fairly? How do the branches of service compare? A sociologist who personally processed the personnel records of thousands of Airmen and Officers and was involved in numerous aspects of the operation of the formal Air Force personnel system, the author is uniquely qualified to present and analyze the data in this book. This study explores changes in the meaning and production of deviant populations in American military settings since 1941. It is designed to highlight the operation of an ethos of control as armed forces and society undergo historically unstable accommodation and conflict. The character of social institutions is known by the nature of rule breakers discovered, or created, within them. The Military produces casualties (due to physical risk) and offenders (due to social risk: the likelihood of being identified as a rule violator). This case study shows that while the rates of casualty and offender are somewhat inversely related to each other, the latter are much more solidly influenced by the techniques of social control used by officers on their charges than by the war/peace cycle.Military justice issues have become increasingly salient since 9/11. And indeed, the types and frequency of sanctioning in the military have changed substantially since World War II. This study of World War II, Korea and the Vietnam War explores differences in how officers and enlisted men are treated, how the different branches of the military have imposed sanctions, and changes in severity and frequency of sanctions during different periods of different wars.The author examines time series data on organizational reaction to deviance in military settings (Bad Paper Discharges, courts-martial, and administrative controls) in light of central characteristics of military settings (the social composition of officer and enlisted ranks, force levels, technological changes in war hardware and the distribution of risks faced by various kinds of soldiers). Propositions from the deviance literature concerning 1) the constancy of punishment, 2) the duration, intensity, and priority of sanctioning, and 3) cohesion and stress are examined in military contexts to discern the changing social control climates therein. Some sources of the shift are located in the role that risk plays in the system and the function of the officer corps as agents of social control. In short: the character of social institutions is knowable, in part, by studying the manner in which deviants therein are controlled, stigmatized and expelled. When convicted by a military court, one becomes a felon, by definitiion (one who breaks federal laws). While the field of "Military Criminology" does not yet formally exist, criminological theories apply (and are used in the book). All criminology programs, at all academic levels, study crime rates, arrest statistics, and types of offenses. In the military context, the proxies are rates and types of courts-martial. The military also has its own prison system. Thus all academics focussing on the categories of Social Deviance and Criminology have a the potential interest in this work. A sociological audience and a criminological one, as well, will find the data valuable as none of it is readily available elsewhere but lies buried in government reports. An extensive bibliography is provided.