Grandson of O’Fallon man wins prestigious Air Force officer of the year award

First Lt. Kiefer Luth, an Air Force officer assigned to Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, was recently selected as the Air Force’s 2021 Colonel Derrel L. Dempsey Airfield Operations Officer of the Year.

Clearly, the apple doesn’t fall from the tree, as Luth is the grandson of the “ATC legend” that the award is named for.

Col. Dempsey, known in the Air Force ATC community by his operating initials “DY,” was a long-time O’Fallon resident who had been stationed at nearby Scott Air Force Base. He served as the Air Force’s senior ATC officer up until his retirement in 1984 after 30 years’ service.

An Air Force pilot with over 5,600 hours in 10 different aircraft, the C-140 flight check aircraft he flew is on static display in the Scott Air Park. DY orchestrated deployment of over 600 Air Force controllers to 65 Federal Aviation Administration facilities to augment operations during the controller strike of 1981. He was inducted into the Air Force Communications and Information Hall of Fame in 2006.

Growing up, Luth admired his grandfather and dreamed of following in his footsteps. He enlisted in the Air Force shortly after high school and was fortunate to be selected into the air traffic control career field that his grandfather held in such high regard. Dempsey was there when his grandson graduated from ATC technical school at Keesler Air Force Base, attending in uniform and serving as keynote speaker.

Luth’s Air Force journey has been a bit winding but rewarding. After six years as an air traffic controller at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi, Luth separated from the Air Force in order to pursue a college degree and an Air Force commission.

He accomplished both at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign through their AFROTC program. He graduated in December 2018, was commissioned in the spring and reentered the Air Force soon thereafter. Luth’s goal to be an Air Force pilot didn’t pan out due to age restrictions so he jumped at the next best thing.

In November 2019, Luth graduated from airfield operations officer technical school at Keesler. His grandfather, who passed away in March 2019, was certainly there in spirit. The graduation ceremony was conducted at Cody Hall in the main conference room that had been dedicated in Col. Dempsey’s name in March 2015. Both grandfather and grandson had attended that memorable dedication ceremony.

At the Keesler ceremony Luth reflected, “It’s surreal to graduate in a room dedicated to my grandfather and his achievements. My grandfather was the reason I joined and is a role model for me as a person and an Airman.”

Luth’s mother, Tammy, was in attendance and added, “My son looked up to his grandfather, and he continues to inspire him. I can’t put into words what seeing him follow in his footsteps means to me.”

Africa deployment

After tech school Luth and his new bride Maddie, an Air Force labor and delivery nurse, were assigned to Nellis. It was a bittersweet move as it was around the same time as his grandfather passed away.

Luth was later deployed for 6-months to Chabelley Airfield, Djibouti in the Horn of Africa where many of the accomplishments that earned him the Dempsey award took place. Luth noted, “I was very fortunate to be surrounded with a great group of people.”

His strong team allowed for many major projects to get done including installation of the Air Force’s first containerized expeditionary air traffic control tower. He worked extensively with the host nation and the French Air Force to optimize flight operations.

Final thoughts

In retirement, an Air Force representative would contact DY each spring to advice of the latest Dempsey award winner. DY would then contact the officer to personally congratulate the recipient on their accomplishment. One can only surmise what a Dempsey-Luth conversation would have been like.

Perhaps DY would have conjured up words from his active-duty days and label his grandson’s performance “a real C+ effort.” Dempsey often used that phrase as high praise when recognizing outstanding accomplishments.

This story was originally published March 9, 2022 at 2:44 AM.