After 5,700 flight hours, Nevada Guard aviator completes final flight
NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Chief Warrant Officer 5 Kevin Keeler spent 28 years flying helicopters to evacuate wounded troops, search for missing people and support communities during disasters. On Oct. 23, the Nevada Army National Guard aviator completed his final flight with more than 5,700 flight hours and decades of experience training other pilots.
One mission stands out to his wife, Jannaria; While supporting firefighters battling Oregon’s Bootleg Fire, Keeler flew with a ranger to search for a missing firefighter. They located him and relayed his coordinates to a ground crew, she recalled.
When her husband described the mission as routine work, Jannaria offered another perspective.
“I don’t think that’s normal work to their family,” she said. “You just brought him home.”
Born in Detroit and raised largely in Castle Rock, Colorado, Keeler enlisted in May 1992 as a fire support specialist, helping direct artillery fire. He served on active duty until 1996, then moved to Carson City and joined the Nevada Army National Guard as a flight operations specialist with the 717th Medical Company, which flew Huey helicopters.
He became a warrant officer in 1998 and deployed to Kosovo and Macedonia with the 717th Medical Company. He later completed two deployments to Afghanistan, flying medical evacuation missions and serving as an aviation safety officer who helped crews identify and reduce risks.
His work in Nevada extended to counterdrug operations, where he served as an aviation maintenance officer and instructor pilot. As a maintenance test pilot, he checked aircraft performance following maintenance, while his instructor duties helped other aviators develop their flying skills.
He also flew an OH-58 Kiowa to Louisiana to support relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina. Other assignments included flood response in northern and southern Nevada, searches for missing people and wildfire support. Each mission brought different conditions, requiring crews to adapt their plans and work together.
“I’m proud of the teamwork,” Keeler said. “I mean, working as a team to survive all these different mission sets, the interactions, the long nights, the weekends, the TDY trips, just being part of the team.”
Keeler flew the OH-58 Kiowa, UH-60 Black Hawk and UH-72 Lakota, accumulating more than 2,400 hours each in the Kiowa and Lakota. His military honors include two Air Medals, three Humanitarian Service Medals and the Master Army Aviator Badge.
Over his career, he watched paper maps and analog instruments give way to digital displays, tablet-based flight planning and advanced autopilot systems. He recalled flying in Afghanistan in 2003 without satellite communications.
“Once you crossed the ridgeline, you weren’t talking back to base or anybody else until you came back,” Keeler said. Crews had to make decisions without immediate guidance from their base. Those experiences later became lessons he could share as an instructor, maintenance test pilot and safety officer.
As the state aviation standardization officer, Keeler worked with aviation units in northern and southern Nevada, reviewing records, updating procedures and mentoring pilots. His work helped crews maintain the standards needed to support troops overseas and respond to emergencies at home.
Even as flight systems become more advanced, Keeler expects pilots to examine their performance every time they return.
“There is no such thing as a perfect flight,” Keeler said.
He encouraged aviators to learn something on every flight and pass that knowledge to others. That approach shaped his work with the pilots who will succeed him.
Keeler will officially retire in March 2027 after more than 34 years of military service.
“It’s time to let the junior guys, who are excellent, take over and then lead the state aviation from here,” Keeler said.
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