Exclusive: Veteran-Led Group Saved Lives in North Carolina amid Slow Federal Hurricane Helene Response

SWANNANOA, North Carolina — Rolling off of Exit 59 on Interstate 40, one could tell something big was happening at the Harley Davidson dealership in Swannanoa.

About a half dozen helicopters lined up in a grassy field behind the dealership, dust clouds swirling as one prepared for lift off.

Dozens of men in sunglasses, various shades of camouflage, and cargo pants moved about the parking lot with urgency.

Some were loading up ATVs with supplies to deliver to residents stuck in their homes. Some with K-9s were going out to look for the missing. Some had chainsaws to clear downed trees. Some directed air traffic for volunteer pilots airlifting supplies to towns like Chimney Rock that were unreachable by ground.

Some were former special operations veterans, like Aaron Switzer. Some were former firemen like Travis Patton. Some were civilians like Crystal Barker.

A garage that normally hosted live shows was transformed into what looked like a tactical operations center in the middle of a war zone.

Covered in a light-layer of dust, the garage was a beehive of activity, divided up into several sections with a long table at the center of each section.

There was an operations section — where volunteers took in requests for help and directed operations, a logistics section where requests for supplies were coordinated, an intelligence section where volunteers searched online for anyone needing assistance.

There were also local police, National Guard and active duty military personnel embedded at the site, and even a few volunteers from Tesla and SpaceX, working to get solar panels and Starlink satellites out to those in need.

The mission was to save lives and on that Saturday, October 12, the team had a list of over 1,000 names of people missing.

“Roughly 1,270-something people — souls — are still missing,” Switzer said.

The man who started the operation was a former U.S. Army Green Beret Adam Smith, who called on his former military buddies to help.

Smith was in Texas when Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina — where his three-year-old daughter and her mother lived. After they were cut off from communication, Smith decided to take action and fly in to rescue them rather than wait for a government response.

“It was a selfish desire to save my daughter and her mom,” he told Breitbart News in an interview. “After the storm hit, they were completely cut off, and we had no contact with them for, it was like 40 hours, 42 hours, somewhere in there… . And so this really started with me asking for help so I could get them out.”

“You kind of just think the worst, and honestly, by the grace of God and by spectacular people who were so amazing — there was a private helicopter that landed on the pad out here — and we flew in and had the first helicopter rescue in the state,” he said.

“My little baby girl was barefoot,” he said, choking up. “She was running in the field, and her mom was there, and they were perfect, and they were healthy, and everybody in our community was perfect and healthy, and we’re just so grateful that [the helicopter] was there.”

From there, Savage Freedom Relief Operations was born.

Smith’s team filled in a crucial gap in the first days after the storm.

There was no power, no running water, no cell service, no internet, and very quickly, no food. Survivors who lived in the mountains were trapped, with back roads entirely washed out.

“In the first 72 hour window, you have immediate response and you have immediate lifesaving rescue,” he said. “Then we’re doing medical rescues and remains discoveries.”

While Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had contracted local emergency crews, it was not until six days later that federal FEMA agents and the active duty U.S. military — despite Fort Liberty being in the same state — came to assist.

By then, Smith’s operation had already gone from a cot and a picnic table to a fully-fledged command center, running 40 sorties a day to deliver supplies. Eventually, the Federal Aviation Administration designated the field as a controlled air space, officially recognizing them.

An active duty Marine who took personal leave to volunteer told Breitbart News the operational tempo was even busier than during his deployment to Afghanistan.

Things were run so effectively that the U.S. military began embedding troops there to assist. At one point, even U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Christopher Donahue, commander of Fort Liberty and the 18th Airborne Corps, stopped by for lessons learned.

Smith praised the North Carolina National Guard, who he said had been embedded at the site early on, but criticized the federal government response as slow and “ineffective.”

“On the ground, I didn’t see the first FEMA truck [until six days] after the disaster. And the truck I saw was a small satellite dish truck that was parked in the corner of a parking lot and all the employees were sitting underneath shade trees with a table.”

“Nobody knew who they were, nobody knew why they were there. Nobody had any idea that they were the place to come and sign up so that you could get assistance, relief, and aid,” he said. “I don’t know if there was a mistake or miscommunication, I just know what the perception is. And the perception isn’t good.”

He also slammed the $750 in immediate relief announced with fanfare by Vice President Kamala Harris.

“What does $750 do for someone when stores aren’t open, gas stations weren’t open for two full weeks. $750 is going to do what? It’s not even going to pay the bill on a majority of people’s bills. So great. That’s awesome. Seven hundred and fifty bucks, that’s awesome, but that does nothing. It’s not even a bandaid on a scratch,” Smith said.

“They can’t eat it. It’s a slap in the face to the people,” added Switzer.

With the rescue phase over, the group has turned to making sure residents have what they need to survive, especially with temperatures dropping fast. The team recently helped deliver insulin and a generator to a disabled veteran who cannot leave his home, and are planning to help him fix his storm-damaged home. Volunteers are also running wellness checks to assisted living facilities.

Twenty days into hurricane recovery, residents were still coming to the dealership to pick up water and other critical supplies.

“It’s very well run, very thoughtfully done. We’re just blessed to have these people helping us,” resident Michael Bruder told Breitbart News. “It’s just God’s hands. Just the fate and hands of God helping everybody with smiles on their faces, giving us hope, making us feel we’re going to rebuild, we’re going to be OK. These people are incredible.”

Smith said he spent nearly 17 years in the military, traveling all around the world, but that “the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever done in my entire lie is taking war-fighting skills and turning it into life-saving skills.”

“Because of the slow, tedious, detailed process that is required to try and cut through the red tape for aid from federal agencies to get to the local community, we have the ability to bridge the gap, and so we can give that support, we can provide that assistance and relief, and we can work diligently with the private sector to help inject that capital sooner rather than later, and cut through the red tape,” he said. “We just know how to get it done. We know the way to make it happen, and we just make it happen.”

But their life saving work has not been without personal sacrifices.

Over the four days Breitbart News spent with the group, there were lots of hugs, and lots of tears, and a volunteer chaplain onsite.

“It sucks. When you find a part of the human remain,, you don’t find the person. Because the water is so violent, and there’s so much debris, that people, when they get swept away, they get — it’s bad,” Smith trailed off.

“I don’t think the worst part is not being able to find them. I think the worst part is the stories of the guys that did,” he said.

He said he met a guy the day after everything stopped. “He came through the water, and I didn’t have a lot, but I gave him what we had.”

“And I asked him, ‘Where are you from? How are you?’ and he said, ‘I lost my house. I lost my business. I lost everything. But the thing I’ll never forget is the six-month-old baby girl I pulled out of the river tied to her mom because her mom knew they were going to die and she didn’t want to lose her baby.”

Many of the volunteers were so busy that they were sleeping at the dealership in the parking lot, either in tents, their vehicles, or trailers, with no running or hot water. Smith himself was living in the parking lot, working from early in the morning to late in the night.

Smith’s efforts recently caught the attention of former President Donald Trump, who personally recognized him during a recent visit to Asheville, North Carolina.

“Nothing is more inspiring than to see the American spirit triumph over adversity with the most selfless acts of generosity and love. One of the patriots who stepped forward to help was Adam Smith, a former Green Beret. Adam transformed the parking lot of a Harley Davidson dealership into a makeshift air base to help distribute supplies. Did an incredible job, Adam. What an amazing act of citizenship and service,” Trump said.

But Smith told Breitbart News he credits his volunteers. “I just rolled around in a pile of mud and it just stuck to me,” he joked.

“It started selfishly. I wanted to save my daughter and her mom. And then people just showed up, amazing, wonderful people with great talents and great skills, and they wanted to help. They wanted to support community. And it kind of took on a life of its own. And so there wasn’t an intention to start a relief operation, but I think it was God’s will for us to be in the right place at the right time, so that the relief operation could actually be effective, and luckily, I get to be a part of that,” he said.

“We had a guy drive in from Utah, we had someone drive in from Washington state. We had people drive in from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Texas, Tennessee, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin. We’ve got doctors, nurses, there’s engineers, civil engineers, there’s professors, there’s special operations veterans, there’s conventional force veterans. I mean, you name it. We’ve had Americans of all shapes and sizes come through these doors to volunteer their time.”

Smith’s biggest hope is that the people of western North Carolina will not be forgotten — even as it takes years for them to recover.

“More than anything, I want everybody to remember and realize that this is not an overnight thing. This is going to take weeks, months, and years to recover from. And the people western of North Carolina, they need help. They’re going to need help for a long time. So we just want people not to forget.”

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