(FORT BRAGG) -- Droves of donors crowded the Blood Donor Center at Fort Bragg Tuesday. About 300 people, mostly soldiers, responded to a call for blood so the Center could meet it's December goals.

The News and Observer of Raleigh reports it was the Center's largest one-day crowd since last year when it opened it's new building.

The donor center at Fort Bragg is part of the Armed Services Blood Program; it's mission is to collect, process, store and test blood for use in military hospitals around the world, including Afghanistan and Iraq. Blood collected on Tuesday will be shipped overseas, most likely to Afghanistan, by the end of the week, said Linda Ellerbe, spokeswoman for the program at Bragg.