For Chief Warrant Officer 2 Deontre T. Huey and Warrant Officer Seth L. Olmstead, August 12 began like another day of military duty.

Neither man knew that the routine flight would become their final mission.

The two U.S. Army pilots were aboard an AH-64E Apache helicopter conducting a maintenance test flight near Salado, Texas, when the aircraft experienced a fatal mishap at around 1:40 p.m.

The helicopter crashed into a field near Fort Hood and burst into flames. The crash also ignited a grass fire that eventually spread across roughly 155 acres.

Both soldiers were killed.

They were the only people aboard the aircraft.

Deontre T. Huey
Huey was 34 years old and his home of record was Killeen, Texas.

He joined the U.S. Army in February 2014, initially serving as a motor transport operator. By February 2022, he had joined the unit that would ultimately become his final assignment.

He served with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division.

Over the course of his military career, Huey moved from ground operations into Army aviation, eventually becoming an Apache pilot.

More than a decade after first putting on the uniform, he was still serving his country when his life was suddenly cut short.

Seth L. Olmstead
Olmstead was just 25.

His home of record was Belton, Texas, placing both soldiers within the Central Texas community surrounding Fort Hood.

He entered the Army in January 2023 as a warrant officer candidate and was assigned to the unit in October 2025.

His military career was much shorter than Huey’s, but it had already taken him into one of the Army’s most demanding aviation roles: flying the AH-64 Apache.

He was still only 25 when the aircraft carrying him went down.

A Crash That Changed an Entire Community
The helicopter went down in a grassy field near Salado, about 30 miles from Fort Hood.

The impact was so severe that the wreckage triggered a large grass fire. More than 200 firefighters from 22 agencies and around 100 law-enforcement personnel from nine agencies responded.

Five nearby homes and nine outbuildings were threatened, although firefighters managed to save all five homes and eight of the nine structures.

As investigators arrived, the focus quickly shifted from the flames to the two soldiers who would never return home.

The U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center sent a safety investigation team to determine what caused the crash.

The Army also temporarily halted Apache training flights nationwide while investigators worked to understand what had happened.

“The Army Is a Family”
Fort Hood leadership said the loss was felt throughout the military community.

Lt. Gen. Kevin D. Admiral, commander of III Armored Corps and Fort Hood, expressed condolences to the families and emphasized that support would be provided to the soldiers’ loved ones and fellow service members.

For the Army, Huey and Olmstead were pilots.

For their families, friends and community, they were much more than that.

One was 34 and had spent more than 12 years in uniform.

The other was only 25 and had begun his Army career just a few years earlier.

Two different lives. Two different journeys into military aviation.

And one devastating afternoon that ended both.

They left for a flight.

They never came home.

Course: NY Post