Members of the Idaho National Guard continue to mourn the loss of three men following last week’s fatal UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crash east of Boise.
Jesse Anderson, George “Geoff” Laubhan and Matthew Peltzer were members of the 1st Battalion of the 183rd Aviation Regiment and were decorated chief warrant officers, according to a Facebook post on Sunday from the Guard. Members of the aviation regiment gathered last Wednesday, just a day after the fatal crash, for a candlelight vigil, according to the Guard.
Lt. Col. Nicole Washington, commander of the 1st Battalion, 183rd Aviation Regiment of the Idaho Guard, said during a news conference after the crash that there were no distress calls made before the Black Hawk went down. Washington added that she knew all three men personally and said the crash leaves a “tremendous, indescribable void” within the Guard.
As of Monday, it was not immediately clear what preceded the crash. An Army Aviation Safety Center team is leading the investigation.
The Guard’s post on Sunday provided some detail into the military backgrounds of the three men, all of whom lived in the Treasure Valley and left behind numerous loved ones.
Jesse Anderson
Anderson, 43, was a Boise resident who is survived by his wife and four children. He was a chief warrant officer 4 at the time of his death.
Anderson entered the U.S. Army as an aviation warrant officer candidate in October 2000, attending basic training in Georgia before graduating from Warrant Officer Candidate School at Fort Rucker, Alabama, in 2002. After being appointed as a warrant officer, Anderson qualified to be a Black Hawk pilot and attended flight school in Alabama.
He was later appointed to a U.S. Army aviation regiment based in New York, and deployed to Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Anderson deployed again in 2006, this time at the Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan.
In 2008, Anderson joined the Idaho National Guard as a Black Hawk pilot. Anderson again was deployed to Afghanistan in 2012, serving in the 168th General Support Aviation Battalion.
As a part of the Idaho Guard, Anderson was an instructor and pilot for several types of military aircraft. He participated in Idaho search and rescue missions, as well as wildfire fighting operations in California and civil operation support in Guatemala.
Anderson received over a dozen medals and awards for his military service, including the Army Commendation Medal and the Army Achievement Medal.
George ‘Geoff’ Laubhan, Jr.
Laubhan, 39, lived in Boise with his wife and two children. He had achieved the rank of chief warrant officer 3 at the time of his death. According to Idaho Statesman archives, Laubhan’s father — 1st Sgt. George Laubhan — was also a member of the National Guard and deployed overseas.
Laubhan joined the Idaho National Guard as an AH-64 attack helicopter repairman. In 2012, he was chosen for Army flight school. The next year he entered and graduated from the Warrant Officer Candidate School program and was appointed as a warrant officer. He later completed an 18-month training program to fly AH-64D Apache Longbows, a type of Army attack helicopter.
Graduating from the training program in 2014, Laubhan went back to Idaho and was assigned to be an Apache helicopter pilot. He later transitioned to flying Black Hawks in 2016, completing a qualification course at Fort Rucker.
In 2019, Laubhan deployed to Guatemala and flew Black Hawks in support of Operation Beyond the Horizon. He served as an instructor and pilot on Apache and Black Hawk helicopters. Like Anderson, he flew in support of wildfire fighting operations in California.
Laubhan was awarded numerous medals for his service, including the Army Achievement Medal and the Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal.
Matthew Peltzer
Peltzer, 40, lived in Nampa with his wife and two children. He had achieved the rank of chief warrant officer 3.
Peltzer first enlisted in 2005 as a part of the same regiment he served in at the time of his death: the Idaho Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion of the 183rd Aviation Regiment. He graduated from basic training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, before graduating from the Idaho Army National Guard’s Officer Candidate School in 2007.
Peltzer attended an 18-month flight school in Alabama to become an AH-64 Apache pilot in 2010. In 2015, he flew Apaches for the Idaho Guard at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California. A year later, he transitioned to flying Black Hawks and returned to Alabama to attend a UH-60 Black Hawk course.
Like Laubhan, Peltzer was sent to Guatemala as a Black Hawk pilot as part of Operation Beyond the Horizon.
At the Idaho Guard, Peltzer was an Apache pilot and Black Hawk pilot. He was also an aviation safety officer and a medevac helicopter pilot. He was awarded numerous medals for his service, including the Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal and the National Defense Service Medal.
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