That was the only way we refered to a BCD as a “big chicken dinner”. After some one went to captain’s mast you could hear a conversation like this discribing what was “awarded” to the person who went to mast. “He went and played pool with the old man and lost. The old man gave him a big chicken dinner and sent him home.” When a person went to captain’s mast the table the Captain sat behind always had a green felt table cloth on it, not unlike a pool table’s. If the offence warrented a BCD the person was sent to base security and started proccessing for getting out of the Navy.
That is not the case. Commanding officers are limited to nonjudicial punishment listed in article 15 of the UCMJ for captain’s mast, office hours, etc. It is typically forfeiture of pay for a period of time, reduction in rank by one pay grade and various restrictions such as confinement to quarters/base. BCD requires a court-martial AFAIK.
I was fortunate to have only made it to XOI (executive officer’s inquiry), the last stop before captain’s mast, once in my six years. He let me go because my accuser had no evidence and I even managed to get a good conduct medal* for that period.
*A maroon ribbon and medal inscribed “fidelity, zeal, obediance.” Awarded for four consecutive years of undetected crime.
A—MEN!
[sub]Signed, Scruloose. A man who hopes the company he keeps isn’t too good at math when persusing my GC ribbons.[/sub] 