Air Guard

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., announced Tuesday that $14.5 million in contracts has been awarded for the construction of a C-5 squadron operations facility, the continued development of the Martinsburg Air National Guard Base parking apron and for runway expansion projects at the airport. In addition, Byrd, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced that he has included $850,000 in legislation that recently cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee to complete the design of taxiway upgrades at the base.

Area military personnel, active and retired, including National Guard members and their dependents, are enjoying bargain prices this weekend shopping for groceries and big-screen televisions at an on-site commissary sale at the West Virginia Air National Guard 167th Airlift Wing. Among the long lines of customers Saturday were retired Marine Master Sgt. Jesse Englehart, a Korean War veteran, and his wife, Betty Englehart, of Smithsburg. "We try to shop at the commissary at Fort Detrick as much as we can," Betty Englehart said.

Members of the West Virginia Air National Guard based in Berkeley County are flying bucket trucks and other equipment from Phoenix, Ariz., to a guard base in Newburgh, N.Y., to assist in Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts in the Northeast. Four loads of equipment are due to be transported by the Guard unit's C-5 aircraft beginning Friday, said Col. Roger Nye, commander of the 167th Airlift Wing. In a separate relief mission, more than 90 members of the West Virginia National Guard are distributing food and water from the base at Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport to thousands of residents in areas where deep, wet snow from the storm downed trees, blocked roads and left them without power.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - The arrival of 10 C-5 cargo airplanes at the Air National Guard base in Martinsburg means 185 military jobs will be added and the base's operating budget will increase by about $16 million a year, according to new figures released Wednesday. When it was announced in April that the C-5s would come here, officials anticipated adding 170 new military employees. In late July, U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd met with U.S. Air Force Secretary James Roche, who gave Byrd updated job and economic figures associated with the conversion from C-130 aircraft to C-5s at the 167th Airlift Wing in Martinsburg, according to a press release issued Wednesday by Byrd's office.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. ? A $50 million allocation to upgrade the West Virginia Air National Guard base in Berkeley County for a larger fleet of planes was included in a bill approved by Congress and now is pending President Bush's approval, according to an official familiar with the project. Capt. Melissa Shade of the 167th Airlift Wing said Wednesday she was told that the money was approved to outfit the unit's base at Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport for the C-5 Galaxy airplanes.

The Pennsylvania Air National Guard Band of the Mid-Atlantic performed Monday at Hagerstown Community College's Alumni Amphitheater. The band's performance is part of a summer tour.

Air National Guard Airman 1st Class Jesse R. Heare, son of Amy Heare of Kearneysville, W.Va., and Carroll Heare Jr. of Wardensville, W.Va., has graduated from basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio. Heare is a 2003 graduate of East Hardy High School in Baker, W.Va. Air National Guard Airman 1st Class Benjiman E. Donivan, son of Earl and Joann Donivan of Falling Waters, W.Va., has graduated from basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Donivan is a 2003 graduate of Hedgesville (W.Va.