‘You’re bigger than just you:’ Veteran continues risking his life to save others

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. ( WHNT ) — Nearly 400 miles traveled by helicopter from Muscle Shoals to Asheville, North Carolina all in the name of saving those devastated by Hurricane Helene.

Brett Harlow and his team of veterans from AOG Solutions took it upon themselves, as soon as they saw the damage, to fly their company helicopter to North Carolina and join the hurricane relief effort. Once they flew in, they instantly knew they made the right decision.

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"Highly inaccessible roads, catastrophic damage to the roads, the infrastructure, hospitals just washed out. It looks like a third-world country," Harlow said to News 19 while in North Carolina on October 2.

With the background of being veterans, they feel a strong pull to put their lives on hold and at risk to help fellow Americans, even when they're also entering the eye of the storm.

"The military, you know, instills from day one is like, look, you're bigger than just you," Harlow said. "You're part of a team. But not only are you part of a team, you're part of the nation."

For 12 days, they provided care to citizens and saved lives.

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"A 9-year-old girl," Harlow detailed. "She was having kidney issues, hadn't eaten in a couple days, so we ended up getting her out of there and taking her to the hospital."

The crew did everything they could to help, from delivering basic needs of water and medication to reconnecting isolated areas to the Internet with Starlink Satellite Systems. Harlow described that Hurricane Helene's path of destruction was dangerously extreme.

"People wandering and looking for other loved ones," Harlow said. "People that were stranded on top of mountains that have hadn't seen anybody for 2 or 3 days. It was hard to even fathom."

After serving North Carolina for over a week, the crew headed back to Alabama to repair the helicopter. But the pitstop in the Yellowhammer state didn't slow them down, taking off days later to North Carolina for the second time.

"Every landing and every rescue, every supply drop we did was just another reason to continue to be out there and stayed to help," Harlow said.

Once those 12 days came to an end and it was time to return home for good, Harlow said the hardest part was feeling like they were leaving people who needed their help behind.

"You just knew that you weren't going to be able to help, you know when you were gone and you knew how much work we were doing and how much help we actually were," Harlow said.

This rescue mission was the first of many. Harlow's team is now a part of Operation Halo as an on-call rescue helicopter.

"A drop of a hat, we'll be there," Harlow said.

Ready anytime and anywhere to do it all again.