Ex-soldiers form homegrown 'Redneck Air Force' to pick up FEMA's slack in North Carolina disaster zone
SWANNANOA, North Carolina — Hundreds of special operations personnel in North Carolina have formed their own homegrown rescue and supply operation in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene after they grew tired of waiting for the federal government to get its act together.
Organizers are calling the effort the “Savage Freedoms Relief Operation,” but Smith says they’ve proudly adopted the alternate moniker — “the Redneck Air Force.” Inside the garage, under a window covered in topographic maps of western North Carolina, is the nerve center of the entire operation, where a former US Air Force combat controller and a local firefighter direct relief flights based on intelligence collated at an adjacent table by a team of men and women who are scraping social media and manning a tip line.
Smith said he fears their carefully calibrated rescue mission will be bogged down with governmental red tape if the feds show up. With the group’s rescue operations now complete, they’ve turned their attention to flying supplies to communities cut off from communication and electricity.
Helicopters Hurricane Helene North Carolina Pilots Special Forces
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