Airman pleads guilty in deployed base's first court-martial Published Aug. 21, 2006 By Capt. Anna Carpenter 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyzstan (AFPN) -- An Airman here pled guilty to larceny and was convicted in a court-martial Aug. 12 to 13. Airman 1st Class Joshua Borth, 376th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron, admitted he stole a fellow Airman's laptop and backpack and some government electronic equipment. This court-martial is the first ever to be convened at Manas, which also makes it likely the first U.S. court-martial to be held in the former Soviet Republic, said Maj. James Flanders, 376th Air Expeditionary Wing judge advocate. In order for justice to be served and the accused to receive a speedy trial, the Air Force looked to its expeditionary and reach-back capabilities to provide the proper legal services. The area defense counsel, Capt. Christopher Olson, came from Ramstein Air Base, Germany. The trial counsel, Capt. Paul Welling, came from a forward-deployed location. The military judge, Maj. Adam Oler, also flew in from Ramstein AB. The court reporter, Tech. Sgt. Virginia Race, came from Bolling Air Force Base, D.C. Major Flanders and Tech. Sgt. Carrie Buckley, the base paralegal, assisted the incoming legal team by working with all parties from the investigatory stages of the case to their arrival, providing oversight, arranging billeting and transportation.Chief Master Sgt. Michael Blake and Staff Sgt. James Kamrad, 376th ESFS's criminal investigators, helped find the missing items through an interview and search in coordination with the staff judge advocate and the 376th ESFS commander. Airman Borth spent a little over two months in pre-trial confinement. His guilty plea allowed him to arrange a pre-trial agreement in exchange for no more than four months confinement. After the judge accepted his guilty plea, Airman Borth was sentenced to four months confinement with two of those already served, reduction in rank to E-1 and received a bad-conduct discharge.