Drug use costs Airman cash, career

  • Published
  • By Judge Advocate Staff
  • 8th Fighter Wing
On Nov. 12, 2013, a board of Kunsan officers and enlisted members sentenced Airman First Class Kody Gonzalez, 8th Maintenance Squadron, to a bad conduct discharge, four months confinement, forfeiture of $1010 pay each month for four months and reduction to airman basic for using cocaine.

Gonzalez pled guilty to using cocaine while stationed at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C. He admitted snorting a total of 10 lines of cocaine over three occasions, including at a house party in October 2012, in a hotel room before a concert in December 2012 and at a house party in February 2013.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, cocaine use can cause euphoria, alertness and excitation, but also irritability, anxiety, increased heart rate and insomnia. Long-term adverse health consequences may include cardiac arrest, stroke and death.

"A1C Gonzalez will live with the lifelong stigma of a punitive discharge," said Capt. Erin Kenny, 8th Fighter Wing trial counsel. "The panel sent a powerful message to Kunsan Airmen on the consequences of illegal drug use."