82nd Airborne Sgt. Sentenced for Gun Incident
PHOTO CAPTION: A U.S. Army vehicle assigned to the 189th Division Sustainment Support Battalion during deployment preparations in March 2025. Sgt. Francisco Zarate was assigned to the battalion. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Frederico Cardoso.
An 82nd Airborne Division sergeant has been sentenced to five months in confinement and a bad-conduct discharge after an encounter at his Fayetteville, North Carolina, home in which he pointed a loaded firearm at another Soldier from his own unit.
Sgt. Francisco Zarate, 29, was assigned as a motor transport operator to the 189th Division Sustainment Support Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division Sustainment Brigade, at Fort Bragg. His court-martial took place Aug. 26, but the Army Office of Special Trial Counsel released details of the case on Sept. 9.
According to the Army, Zarate returned to the home he shared with his estranged wife on Jan. 18 and found her in the living room watching television with another Soldier from his unit.
Zarate demanded that the Soldier leave and pointed a loaded firearm at her, according to the Army's account. The Soldier, who the Army said feared for her safety, left the house.
The confrontation then shifted to Zarate and his wife. The Army said Zarate put his hand over his wife's mouth and shoved her onto a couch during the altercation.
Fayetteville police responded to a domestic-disturbance call at the residence. The Army's release says Zarate's wife declined to press charges and that no arrests were made at the time.
What happened afterward is one of the more unusual parts of the case.
Later that afternoon, Zarate called a colleague and told her he had pulled a gun on the other Soldier and assaulted his wife. He subsequently informed his supervisors about what happened and provided a statement to Army Criminal Investigation Division agents, according to the Army.
At a special court-martial at Fort Bragg on Aug. 26, Zarate pleaded guilty before a military judge.
The Army's official court-martial database records Zarate as convicted, pursuant to his pleas, of one specification of simple assault under Article 128 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and one specification of domestic violence under Article 128b. The judge sentenced him to five months of confinement and a bad-conduct discharge, consistent with the terms of his plea agreement.
Zarate is set to serve the confinement at the Midwest Joint Regional Confinement Facility at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
The case was investigated by Army CID's Carolinas Field Office and the Fayetteville Police Department.
Source: U.S. Army Office of Special Trial Counsel; U.S. Army Court-Martial Public Record System
Fact check
Everything important checks out, with one thing I would specifically not copy from the Sept. 9 Army release.
The release says Zarate “also pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon.” But the Army's formal Court-Martial Public Record System identifies the convictions as simple assault under Article 128 and domestic violence under Article 128b.
Because the formal case record is more precise, I used the conduct itself—pointing the loaded firearm—in the headline, rather than saying he was “convicted of assault with a deadly weapon.” That keeps us completely clean.
The other key details are directly supported: Zarate is 29, assigned to the 189th DSSB/82nd Airborne Division Sustainment Brigade; the incident occurred Jan. 18; the other person was a Soldier from his unit; the firearm was loaded; Fayetteville police responded; no arrest was made that day; Zarate later told a colleague and his supervisors; and the sentence was five months plus a bad-conduct discharge.
(Source: OAF Nation)
