Their Story
Remembering Seth L Olmstead.
WO1 Seth L. Olmstead, 25, of Belton, Texas, served as a pilot with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, at Fort Hood.
Seth grew up flying. As a kid, he flew small planes with his grandfather, and by high school, he graduated from Harker Heights High School in 2019, he was already known as, in the words of people who knew him, "a top notch pilot." That early love of flying carried him into the Army, where he entered as a warrant officer candidate in January 2023 and joined B Co, 1-227 in October 2025.
Seth met his close friend Logan Faber in seventh grade at Union Grove Middle School, and the friendship lasted the rest of his life. Faber said Seth "wasn't just a best friend; he was a brother" to their whole circle, Logan, Derrick, Gene, Avery, Taylor, and Seth's older brother Caleb, and that Seth was "our glue to the group," the one who kept everyone organizing lunches and get-togethers so the friendships never drifted.
Seth had recently married his high school sweetheart, Lauren. Family friends organized a meal train to support her, and the outpouring from people who knew him was immediate. One friend wrote, "Seth was such a sweet, genuine person, and I'm so grateful I had the chance to know him and work with him. He will truly be missed and never forgotten."
Seth died August 12, 2026, at age 25, in an AH-64E Apache mishap during a maintenance test flight near Salado, Texas. He is survived by his wife, Lauren, and his brother, Caleb. Steel Hearts remembers him as his friends did: the glue that held people together, and a pilot who was living his childhood dream.