Promotion: Denied by Joseph W. Hoffler

About the book

Lieutenant Colonel Joseph W. Hoffler was a highly decorated officer and commander of the Air Force Academy's Security Police Squadron when in 1984 he was denied a well-deserved promotion to colonel for one reason and one reason only: Hoffler was Black. Growing up in the Jim Crow South of the 1950's and '60s, Joseph Hoffler was no stranger to racism. Segregated restaurants, schools, and movie theaters were the norm. Yet bright, resourceful Hoffler graduated from college with a degree in biology and enlisted in the Air Force in 1962. Rising quickly through the ranks, Hoffler served in Europe, Asia, and the United States, becoming a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Security Police and Minuteman Missile Launch Officer fields.

Hoping to address a lack of minority leadership, the United States Air Force in 1979 recruited Lt. Col Hoffler and other Black officers to serve at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado. In 1979 Lt. Col Hoffler became the first Black squadron commander in the Academy's history.

After five distinguished years as a leader and a mentor to both white and Black cadets, Hoffler heard rumors that some whites found the Security Police Squadron's command element "too Black." The Academy's Superintendent, the Director of Security Police, and other Air Force agencies stood by and did nothing while a group of rogue senior officers, led by a racist Chief of Staff, dispensed their own grand of vigilante justice in a quest to force Lt. Col Hoffler out of the military after a distinguished 22-year career.

The conspiracy to "get" Lt. Col Hoffler on trumped-up charges involved such nefarious actions as tampering with Air Force personnel records, altering performance reports, recruiting and rewarding false witnesses, and intimidating and retaliating against those who attempted to tell the truth. Lt. Col Hoffler vowed to fight this gross injustice, not just for himself but for all minority officers and enlisted military members.

Yet no one would help Lt. Col Hoffler in his cause -not the Academy, and particularly not the Superintendent, nor the Air Force itself, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Congress. Hoffler's only allies through out his struggle were his loving family and his stalwart friend a white Italian-American Operations Officer from New York who put his own career on the line. PROMOTION: DENIED is the first book to blow the lid off the shameful secret of racial discrimination at the Academy, and to tell how one man risked his career and his future to make sure that what happened to him would not happen to other members of the U.S. military.

About the author

Lt. Col Joseph W. Hoffler was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1940 and grew up in Hertford, North Carolina. After graduating from North Carolina Central University in 1962 with a degree in biology, Hoffler enlisted in the U.S. Air Force.

After graduating from Officer's Training School in 1964 Hoffler was assigned to the Security Police career field at Griffiss Air Force Base in New York and later completed assignments in England, Missouri, and Southeast Asia. In 1978, after serving three years as the commander of the 513th Security Police Squadron at RAF Mildenhall in England, his squadron received the coveted honor of being named "The Best Security Police Squadron in the Air Force."

In 1979 Hoffler was recruited by the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado to serve as the commander of the Academy's 7625th Security Police Squadron. In 1979 Lt Col Hoffler became the first Black squadron commander in the Academy's history. He served with distinction until his retirement in 1984. In 1990 Hoffler and his late wife, Ruby, founded Hoffler & Associates Comprehensive Counseling Services, providing individualized treatment in upgraded facilities for the low-income communities of Colorado Springs.

Today Hoffler lives in Colorado Springs where, in addition to his work with Hoffler & Associates, he substitute teaches, leads fathering classes, and volunteers as a mentor at the Center on Fathering. His wife of 40 years, Ruby, passed away on May 31st, 2006. Hoffler has one daughter, Patricia; one son, Brian; and one grandson, Joseph B. Hoffler.