As a member of the armed forces, you believe you have been wronged by your commanding officer. After due application to the commanding officer, you are refused redress. Under what article of the UCMJ may you complain to any superior officer?

• A. 1
• B. 138
• C. 45
• D. 115

Answer: (B)

This item is about the procedure a service member uses to seek redress of grievances through the chain of command when a commanding officer won’t remedy a wrong. Article 138 provides a formal path to bring a grievance to a superior officer after you’ve asked your commanding officer for relief and it’s denied.

The idea is that you first present the issue to your immediate commander with the expectation of a remedy. If that doesn’t happen to your satisfaction, you may elevate the matter to a higher authority under this provision. A superior officer can review the grievance, order an investigation, and recommend or take corrective action as appropriate. This ensures you have a way to have serious concerns heard and addressed within the military structure, rather than being left without remedy.

In this scenario, since redress was refused by the commanding officer, the next step under this mechanism is to bring the matter to a higher authority for review. Other articles govern different processes—one about general authority, another about punishments, and others about different offenses—but they don’t provide this specific route for redress of grievances through a superior.