Mountain Home Air Force Base donates blood on wounded veterans returning from operations in Afghanistan and Iraq last January 23. Mountain Home AFB was one of only two military installations to lend a hand to replenish the depleted blood supply at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C., by sending 25 units of critically needed blood through American Red Cross channels. Their assistance was prompted by a request from the Army Surgeon General’s Office January 22. The blood was sent out the following day.

“Because of the efforts you made, we were able to ship invaluable blood to Walter Reed Army Medical Center and keep them in business until their next shipment arrived,” said Jim Koseki, the 366th Medical Group laboratory services transfusion supervisor and wing blood drive chairman.

Mr. Koseki added that Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, and other large donor centers could not send blood because of their monthly quota of blood due to the major national blood shipment centers.

Mountain Home AFB and the American Red Cross hold a blood drive every 56 days, which is the required recovery time between donations. The wing provided 83 units of blood during its December 2007 blood drive.

A catapult system testing took place on the flight deck of Pre-Commissioning Unit (PCU) George H. W. Bush (CVN-77) on January 25. Present at the event was the ship’s namesake, former United States President and World War II naval aviator, George H. W. Bush.

Others in attendance included Northrop Grumman Newport News (NGNN) President Mike Petters, Bush’s Commanding Officer Captain Kevin O’Flaherty, and several flag officers and commanding officers from local and regional commands. Sailors from PCU Bush and NGNN Shipyard workers who were involved in the ship’s construction were also on hand.

Former President Bush signaled the launch of two dead loads off the carrier’s deck. Dead loads are 80,000-pound, wheeled, steel vessels that simulate the weight of actual aircraft. Their launching tests the ability of a ship’s catapult systems to launch aircraft.

At the ceremony, Former President Bush said that he was pleased to attend the event and that it was hard to comprehend the honor of having the aircraft carrier named after him. He also mentioned that while ships had changed since he last flew off the deck of a carrier, the pride, patriotism and devotion to duty of their sailors were still the same.

Captain O’Flaherty presented former President Bush a yellow “shooter” jersey and a cowboy hat-shaped hard hat. A “shooter” is the sailor who signals for the launch of the aircraft during flight operations.

PCU George H. W. Bush is the US Navy’s newest aircraft carrier and the last of the Nimitz class. She is scheduled to be commissioned in 2009.

A South Korean spy plane without a pilot crashed near the border of North Korea, but there were no reported casualties on the ground, according to a South Korean military.

The airplane crashed near a factory in Pocheon, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) south of the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, shortly after it took off for a regular mission, said an official at the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul.

The official denied to identify the model of the aircraft, specifically for security purpose. Yonhap news agency said it was an Israeli-made “Searcher” craft which can remain airborne for up to 14 hours.

MOSCOW – A Russian man killed a Swiss air traffic controller blames plane crash in which his wife and children died, gets appointed to a high-level government post in his southern Russian province.

North Ossetia government approved Vitaly Kaloyev as the region’s construction and architecture minister, said Yevgeny Rodionov, the region’s construction minister.

“He didn’t agree to it immediately. We spoke a month ago, and he went back and forth but finally agreed to it.” Rodionov told NTV.

Kaloyev was convicted in Switzerland in October 2005 of killing Peter Nielsen, a Danish controller with Swiss company Skyguide and was sentenced to five and a quarter years in prison. He was released in November under an order by Switzerland’s highest court.

He was freed in accordance with Swiss legislation that allows early release of convicted criminals for good behavior after they complete two thirds of a sentence. Kaloyev’s ordeal has brought him widespread sympathy in Russia.

In September, it was learned that four Skyguide employees were guilty of negligent homicide in a separate case examining the events that led to the crash. The punishment ranged from one year suspended prison sentence to fines.