Jonathan Howard of the Florida State Guard Special Mission Unit posted a video online Wednesday calling for more helicopters to be sent to North Carolina to assist with aid efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
🚨🚨MAKE IT GO VIRAL!
— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) October 2, 2024
“They are literally allowing this people to fvcking die in the mountains right now because we can’t get helicopters.”
Jonathan Howard with the Florida State Guard Special Mission Unit who is assisting Aerial Recovery says they desperately NEED… pic.twitter.com/EtWrkYtYc4
Howard explained he’s been working with a non-profit called Aerial Recovery since Sunday, and complained about how the disaster is being portrayed by the media, saying, “What they’re telling you is complete bullshit on the news and these politicians don’t have a fucking clue and they’re lying.”
Continuing, he pointed out that helicopters are the only way to reach people tucked back in the mountains, forty miles from where ground crews can currently reach.
Regarding those stranded up the mountains, Howard said, “There’s no way to get with them or even communicate with them. I’m literally flying around in a civilian helicopter looking for SOS messages carved in the mud or painted on the ground and we’re dropping down and saving them.”
The volunteer crew recently rescued an 11-day old baby from the rooftop of a hospital, and media outlets such as USA Today credited the Biden administration’s National Guard with the save.
“National Guard troops airlifted families out of flooded communities in North Carolina as federal authorities raced Monday to assist those hardest hit by Helene, surging thousands of aid workers to Southeastern states,” the outlet wrote.
“No!” Howard said in response to the USA Today article. “It was me, my buddy Charlie and a civilian named Zeb with his own personal helicopter out of Wilmington, North Carolina. Without that civilian, that baby would be dead. And, the old lady we rescued after that, she’d be dead too because she had one day left of oxygen.”
Perhaps the most shocking claim made in the video came when the Florida State Guard member said, “When we go up in the air, I probably see forty civilian helicopters and I might see two Blackhawks. National Guard, military, whatever they are… No one’s out there doing rescues.
Howard noted his entire Special Mission Unit is unable to assist people stuck back in the mountains without more helicopters and said it blows his mind that there aren’t more federal government aircraft on the scene.
A pair of National Guard pilots reportedly told Howard they’re waiting on orders to go in and start saving people.
“We can’t go. We’re waiting on Title 10 orders,” they reportedly told him.
Howard told the camera, “They’re killing these people. I don’t know why they’re doing it. I don’t know what kind of conspiracy. I’ve heard so many things, whatever you wanna come up with but they are literally allowing these people to fucking die in the mountains right now because we can’t get helicopters. They got money for everything else in the fucking world right now, but if they’d just get us helicopters we could fly out there and rescue these people.”
One man with Aerial Recovery joined “The Britt Mayer Show” to describe the moment they saved the newborn baby.
He also slammed USA Today for crediting the National Guard with the rescue, saying, “People want to claim credit and not actually do the work and it’s pretty disgusting to see.”
🚨Aerial Recovery desperately NEEDS helicopters.
— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) October 2, 2024
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