Meet Adam Smith, the Green Beret Behind North Carolina’s ‘Redneck Air Force’

SWANNANOA, N.C.—“They’re probably dead.” That was the thought running through Adam Smith’s mind as he raced to find a way to save his 3-year-old daughter and her mother from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene. Smith, a former U.S. Army Green Beret, spent 17 years conducting military operations around the globe in defense of his country. He never expected to need those skills to save his family. “I don’t think anything can prepare you for the thought of losing your child,” Smith told The Epoch Times on Oct. 26, exactly one month after Helene touched down as a Category 4 hurricane in Florida and barreled on toward the unsuspecting mountain communities of western North Carolina....