Glasgow High School graduate promoted to US Air Force Colonel

PRESS RELEASE
Glasgow News 1

This article previously had an incorrect headline. It has been amended with the correct word. Glasgow News 1 regrets the error. 

Glasgow High School alumnus Michael Luke Deckard was promoted to the rank of colonel in the United States Air Force on June 5.

Lt. Colonel Michael Luke Deckard grew up as a military B.R.A.T., meaning born raised and trained, as the military likes to refer to children raised by a military family, and graduated from Glasgow High School in 1999.

He was commissioned as an officer in the United States Air Force after graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University with a degree in Global Security and Intelligence Studies in 2003. After graduating Navigator School at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, Colonel Deckard
was assigned to the Air Force Special Operations Command as an MC-130 navigator.

He was assigned to Okinawa, Clovis, New Mexico; and Albuquerque, New Mexico. He flew combat deployments in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Southern Philippines.

In 2017 he was selected as a Mansfield Fellow, spending one year in Tokyo, working side-by-side with defense and diplomatic officials within the Government of Japan. Col Deckard then went on to serve as the Japan and Korea Director to the United States Indo-Pacific Command headquarters in Oahu, Hawaii.

Deckard is currently assigned as the South Asia Branch Chief and Japan Director for the Department of the Air Force in Washington, DC. Deckard oversees all security cooperation and engagements for the Air Force and the Space Force pertaining to Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Maldives.

Deckard’s ceremony was held at the Army and Navy Club of Washington, DC on June 5th, 2024. Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force Kelli Seybolt issued the oath and gave a gracious tribute for all of Deckard’s tireless work and accomplishments. Deckard was joined by his wife, Ayumi, and their two daughters, Saya and Misa. His mother Sheila Deckard and sister Monica Deckard also traveled to attend his promotion ceremony. Friends, co-workers, Embassy of Japan delegates, and Mansfield Fellow alumni  attended the ceremony as well.

Following the reading of the promotion order and oath-of-office, Deckard’s remarks to the audience were filled with thanks and gratitude to all the people who have advanced his career along the way. He noted his sincere appreciation to those who have helped him achieve his success, one of which is his late father, Michael Stephen Deckard, son of JoAnn Young.

“He is the driving force behind every successful thing I have ever done,” Deckard said of his father.

He also gave tribute to his sister, his life-long friend, and his mother who raised him to serve with compassion and love. In closing, he honored his two daughters and wife.

“I wouldn’t be standing here today without their support and love.”

Deckard and his family will be re-assigned to Camp Humphreys, South Korea this month. He will take the position of Director, Strategic Plans and Policy for Special Operations Command-Korea.  He will be responsible for wartime planning of United States Special Operations Forces on the Korean Peninsula, oversee bilateral cooperation and planning with the Republic of Korea Special Warfare Command, and advance multilateral cooperation with allied and partner special operations units to maintain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific.

Submitted by Sheila Deckard. Journalist Michael Crimmins contributed to this article.