Army veteran launches global operation out of Waxhaw to provide aid to remote communities

WAXHAW, N.C. — An Army veteran of 21 years has closed that chapter of his life and opened a new one in Waxhaw, bringing missionaries across transportation barriers around the world to bring humanitarian aid to people in remote communities.

Steve Russell is the CEO and President of Jungle Aviation and Relay Service, or JAARS.

“We reduce barriers, ease burdens and deliver God’s word,” Russell told Channel 9’s Gina Esposito.

Russell says the organization specializes in air, land and sea operations in nine locations around the globe, including every rainforest in South America, Africa and Southeast Asia. Locally, JAARS opened an airport and delivered cargo during Hurricane Helene.

The global operation is headquartered right here in North Carolina, where JAARS created an operations center to track its missions around the world.

Before JAARS, Russell spent decades serving our country.

“The mission and the operations are similar, but the chief aim is much different,” he said. “It’s probably the most rewarding work I’ve ever done, and I’ve served in a lot of places, from military to Congress to wherever, but this is incredible work.”

As an Army lieutenant colonel, he commanded a battalion that helped capture Saddam Hussein in 2003. He even wrote a book about that mission, called “We Got Him!”

“We didn’t know we were making history,” he said. “I remember the night that Saddam was captured. I said, ‘Lord, I don’t know why I was involved with any of this, but I pray you would use it for good,’ and he has.”

Many of Russell’s family members also served in the military, and he continues to honor their contributions, including his great uncle Frank who died in World War I. Russell still carries the pipe his ancestor was carrying when he was killed to keep his memory alive.

It’s that kind of service that has stayed with him all these years.

“When the nation needed us, we served, and we were happy to do that because we have a nation still worth defending, and a people that is still worth defending,” Russell said.

While not everyone understands the sacrifice, he says Veterans Day is a day to honor those who ensure we never have to.

“Let them think about football. Let them think about Christmas. Let them think about their job. That’s the way it should be,” he said. “If we’ve done our job well as veterans, they get to do that, and that’s success.”

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