Peltzer, Matthew
Idaho National Guard Warrant officer 3
Matthew Peltzer, age 43, from Nampa, Idaho.
Spouse: Heidi (Leben)
Children: Luthien, 7; Iris, 4
Service era: Afghanistan
Date of death: Tuesday, February 2, 2021
Death details: Among three soldiers killed after their UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed south of Lucky Peak near Boise during a routine training flight.
Tribute from Cloverdale Funeral Home:
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Matthew David Peltzer was born and raised in Falmouth, Massachusetts. He studied computer science and mathematics at Seattle Pacific University, where he met and fell in love with Heidi Leben. They married on May 31, 2003, and have two daughters: Lúthien (7) and Iris (4).
Matt enlisted in the Idaho Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion of the 183rd Aviation Regiment as an officer candidate in July 2005. He attended Basic Combat Training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, graduated from the Idaho Army National Guard’s Officer Candidate School in 2007, and graduated after 18 months of training as an AH-64 Apache pilot at Fort Rucker, Alabama, in 2010.
In 2015, Matt flew the AH-64D Apache in support of the Idaho Army National Guard’s rotation to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California. After the battalion reorganized and transitioned from Apaches to Black Hawks in 2016, he returned to Fort Rucker to attend a UH-60 Black Hawk qualification course.
In 2019, he mobilized for two weeks to Huehuetenango, Guatemala, as a Black Hawk pilot in support of Operation Beyond the Horizon. He also flew rotations at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada and the Air Assault Rappel School in Astoria, Oregon and transported numerous dignitaries in support of local and national Department of Defense initiatives.
Matt served as an AH-64 Apache pilot in command, a UH-60 Black Hawk pilot, an aviation mission survivability officer, an aviation safety officer, and a medevac helicopter pilot. He also served since 2018 as an information technology programmer for the Idaho Military Division.
His awards include the Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal, the Armed Forces Reserve Medal, the Army Reserve Component Overseas Training Ribbon, the Senior Aviator Badge, and the Idaho Adjutant General’s Outstanding Unit Award.
Source: Idaho National Guard, Cloverdale Funeral Homes
