COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A member of the Colorado Army Reserve who was once expelled from the Air Force Academy just hours before graduation was recently promoted to captain.
It’s a move he feels is a major victory as he continues his fight with the Air Force, he told Denver7 Investigates.
Last month, Adam DeRito took his oath as a captain in the Colorado Army Reserve on the campus of the Air Force Academy, which in 2010 told him he would not graduate from the academy just hours before the ceremony while his family sat in the stadium stands.
The order of his promotion was approved by President Donald Trump, which DeRito said adds credibility to his still-unresolved conflict.
“This is a huge deal,” DeRito said on the day of his promotion. “Today is a huge day of vindication.”
Denver7 Investigates has followed DeRito’s story since 2021, when it was first reported that he was in a battle with the U.S. Air Force, trying to regain his reputation.
DeRito was accepted into the Air Force Academy in 2006 and was set to graduate four years later. But he was told on graduation day that he would not receive his diploma or become an officer.
The reason, he was told, was that he had violated Academy rules by fraternizing with a subordinate. But he believes it was because of what he called a history of retaliation against those who reported sexual assault at the Academy.
DeRito claimed he worked as an undercover informant and had reported 30 perpetrators of sexual assault and rape during his time at the Academy.
Not only did he not graduate, but he was left with a bill of more than $200,000 to repay for his education. That tuition is waived after a cadet who serves in the Air Force after graduation.
Years later, he also discovered the Academy had put multiple mental health diagnoses on his record that he said were not accurate, which prevented him from entering helicopter training with the Colorado Army Reserve.
Despite that, he was still cleared to guard the U.S. Capitol on Inauguration Day in 2021, just weeks after the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Also in 2021, DeRito received a letter from the White House where staff wrote they had reviewed DeRito’s correspondence and forwarded it on to the appropriate federal agency for further action.
DeRito has spent the past four years on a journey for justice and feels the promotion is vindication from the Department of Defense. He chose to have his promotion ceremony on the Air Force Academy campus, wearing a camouflage Army uniform instead of Air Force blue.
He still does not have his diploma from the Air Force and officially owes roughly $240,000 for his education. DeRito told Denver7 Investigates that he is working to build relationships with both Democrats and Republicans as he seeks to take his case to Capitol Hill in hopes that Congress will clear his record.
“For me, the Air Force was not a good fit, and the Army welcomed me with open arms,” DeRito said. “I think I have proven to this nation that I am willing to do whatever it takes to protect what it stands for, and I'm hoping that the Air Force Academy realizes that it made some mistakes in the past and they are willing to move beyond those and to make sure that what happened to me never happens to anyone ever again.”
- Hear more from chief investigative reporter Tony Kovaleski in the video player below
