In cases where an officer is referred to a court martial, and the offense to be tried is not a class I felony type (murder, robbery and the like) under the UCMJ, the officer can request resignation in lieu of court martial. The officer's DD-214, though, would have a discharge code reflecting that fact.
It would be up to the court martial convening authority, through the local staff Judge Advocate General prosecuting office, to grant that resignation request.
The ultimate punishment for an officer at court martial is to be "dismissed from the service". This is usually an automatic at a General court martial, but not at a Special.
To suffer "dismissal" is humiliating in the extreme. If Kerry was successful at getting the results of any punitive action reversed by either the Court of Military Appeals (the military's "Supreme Court") or a favorable adjudication at the BCNR, a new DD-214 and discharge certificate would have been issued, with the old ones and the paperwork from these proceedings sealed.
Thanks guys..I'm going to hit the hay..hang loose, will see what happens tommorrow, obviously Kerry needs to be asked questions about this..will he shake his finger and point at the camera and say no no no...?(will anyone even ask him the right questions?)