At War is a newsletter about the experiences and costs of war with stories from Times reporters and outside voices.

In 2019, one of the oldest and most archaic punishments in the United States military — three days’ confinement on bread and water — will be no more. On Christmas Day, my colleague Dave Philipps reported that the Navy’s bread-and-water punishment for the most junior enlisted sailors has been eliminated in a new revision to the Uniform Code of Military Justice that went into effect on Jan. 1.

It’s a change long in the making in the United States even though the punishment has been outlawed elsewhere for decades. For what are essentially misdemeanor offenses, service members can be punished by their commanding officers if the commander thinks that a preponderance of the evidence points to their guilt. The punishment is considered less severe than what would be doled out in a military trial, but the burden of proof for establishing guilt in these administrative hearings is also far lower.

Three days’ confinement on bread and water is considered the most severe administrative punishment possible in the Navy, and it may only be awarded to enlisted sailors in the three lowest pay grades. Once a sailor is promoted to the E-4 paygrade, that of a third-class petty officer, he or she cannot receive the draconian punishment.