Moms honored as Hometown News tests new greeting method

  • Published
  • By Leslie Brown
  • Air Forces News Agency
SAN ANTONIO (AFNEWS) --  As part of a test, Airmen around the world had a rare opportunity to send a greeting to their moms on Mother's Day.

Army and Air Force Hometown News officials used the occasion to test a new program as they seek to find a quicker and more cost-effective way to film, process and distribute annual holiday greetings. Select Airmen from Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan; Lajes AB, Azores; Spangdahlem AB, Germany; Aviano AB, Italy; and Misawa and Okinawa air bases in Japan participated in the test.

"The greetings program always has been a great way to recognize the Airmen and Soldiers and their families who are serving their country abroad during the holidays," said Chad Starr, director of Hometown News. "These military members spend time away from family and this is a way we can help thank them. It's an important quality-of-life program."

In the past, hometown broadcast teams would travel to the Pacific, European, Mediterranean and Southwest Asia areas of operation to videotape greetings from service members and their families overseas. These messages air on hometown news channels during the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year holidays.

Because of the ongoing war on terrorism, the 25-year-old mission experienced a large funding cut in 2006. These constraints affected the traditional method of gathering greetings. This past season, greetings were obtained from selected locations in Europe, the Pacific and Southwest Asia.

"The greetings program suffered," Mr. Starr said.  "We were constantly fielding calls from customers because they didn't receive the number of greetings they usually see and they complained about technical issues. We knew something had to be done to fix the problems."

A process action team formed to study innovative ways to maintain a high-quality program and cut costs. In February, the team met to discuss various options for this year's mission and decided to test a different process and honor mothers at the same time.

"We tried a several new things," said Mr. Starr. "Some worked and some didn't, unfortunately. It did help us identify challenges that we need to overcome."

Even if the test wasn't a total success, the end products still honor moms around the country. All of the Mothers' Day greetings are now available online for viewing at two locations: the Digital Video and Information Distribution System, or DVIDS, and on Google video.

To access the greetings through DVIDS or visit the Google search engine and click on video. The greeting should appear after using a video search with the Airman's name in the greeting.

"Every year the greetings program becomes more popular," Mr. Starr said. "Many consider it a holiday tradition." 

(Kristoffer Grogan contributed to this story)

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