Its not as cut and dry as everyone here is making it out to be. This is an organization of people, rules are bent and broken CONSTANTLY.

Each branch has a form of peer-mentoring. In some form or another you’re graded on your ability to do your job and those grades get looked at for your promotion.

It starts off as a negative counseling. Sometimes written, most times just verbal. These are the “oh man I forgot to do this duty at the end of the day” type offenses. Most than likely someone is just gonna tell you to pull you’re head out of your ass and fix it.

Get enough of these and eventually you will get whats called a “non-judical punishment”. These are punishments handed out by commanding officers. See “UCMJ Article 15”. These are offenses under the rest of the UCMJ. Some things like adultery are still chargeable offenses. If they cant find something to charge you with “UCMJ Article 134” is a general offense. Basically “hey we didnt like what you did, its not illegal, but were gonna charge you anyway”

Think of NJPs as a misdemeanor, smaller but still serious infraction. When you leave the military, nobody will know that you got charged with something. But these do come with punishments. You basically get “grounded” cant leave your barracks room / get put on restriction. Also loss of pay.

Decide to commit a serous crime defined in the UCMJ? Well thats what a court-martial is. That is equivalent to a felony and will show up on any criminal background check. These often include jail time and reductions in rank.

Its all incredibly suggestive and depends on all the parties involved.