PRAYERS UP: Two Texas soldiers climbed into an Apache helicopter for what should have been a maintenance test flight.
PRAYERS UP: Two Texas soldiers climbed into an Apache helicopter for what should have been a maintenance test flight.
Neither made it home.
Fort Hood has now identified the two pilots killed in Wednesday’s fiery helicopter crash near Salado.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Deontre T. Huey was 34 years old.
Warrant Officer Seth L. Olmstead was just 25.
Two names.
Two families now facing the kind of knock, phone call or conversation every military family fears.
Both men were assigned to the 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood.
Huey, whose home of record was Killeen, had served in the Army since 2014.
Olmstead, whose home of record was Belton, entered the Army in 2023.
On Wednesday afternoon, the two were aboard an AH-64E Apache conducting a maintenance test flight when the helicopter went down in a field near Salado.
The Bell County Sheriff’s Office described it as a “violent crash.”
The aircraft was engulfed in flames when deputies arrived, and the crash sparked a wildfire that eventually burned roughly 155 acres.
But behind the dramatic pictures of smoke and fire are two lives that were lost.
And the people who loved them.
“Our hearts and deepest condolences are with the families of the Soldiers we lost Wednesday,” Lt. Gen. Kevin D. Admiral said.
“The Army is a family, and a tragedy like this is felt throughout our formations and our community.”
I hope we can make this about Deontre and Seth.
Two men who put on the uniform.
Two families who expected them to come home.
And two empty places that can never truly be filled.
