Chief Warrant Officer 3 Matthew Peltzer enlisted into the Idaho Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion of the 183rd Aviation Regiment as an officer candidate in July 2005. After attending Basic Combat Training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, he went on to graduate from the Idaho Army National Guard’s Officer Candidate School in 2007. Peltzer later attended flight school in 2010 at Fort Rucker, Alabama, where he trained as a warrant officer for 18 months to become an AH-64 Apache pilot.
In 2015, Peltzer 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, Peltzer 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. During his career he also flew rotations at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, in support of joint service training exercises; supported training with the Air Assault Rappel School in Astoria, Oregon, and transported numerous dignitaries in support of local and national Department of Defense initiatives.
Peltzer 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 all while with the battalion.
His awards include the Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Armed Forces Reserve Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Army Reserve Component Overseas Training Ribbon, the Senior Aviator Badge, the Idaho Adjutant General’s Outstanding Unit Award and the Idaho Service Ribbon.
Peltzer was 40 years old and lived in Nampa with his wife and two children.