Holiday greetings teams begin worldwide tour

  • Published
  • By Capt. Shannon Nyberg
  • Air Force Print News
SAN ANTONIO --  Four teams of broadcasters from the Army and Air Force Hometown News Service here will begin their annual worldwide holiday greetings tour Sept. 10, giving thousands of servicemembers and Department of Defense civilians stationed overseas a chance to send a message to their families back home.

The teams will visit about 70 overseas installations in 11 countries, Guam and Alaska to gather about 15,000 individual messages from people stationed abroad during the holidays, said Tom Taylor, chief of broadcast news for hometown news. The trip also includes visits to about 10 forward-deployed locations.

The holiday greetings program began in 1984 to recognize servicemembers serving in a variety of missions outside the United States at a time of the year when they will miss sharing the holidays with their families, Mr. Taylor said. The program gives them a chance to send a personal message to their loved ones back home, and the process is a painless one.

Participants come to where the teams have set up at their location, fill out a form indicating where their families are, stand in front of the camera and say their message. When the teams get back here, they market each greeting to the TV stations in that person’s area, and turn the video into a release for the radio stations.

Over the years, the greetings have become a regular part of the holiday season for viewers nationwide, airing in every market in the United States on about 1,100 television stations and 1,200 radio stations. John Boyer, of a news station in Gainesville, Fla., said the program is an integral part of his station, and he loves giving servicemembers the chance to speak to their family.

“The holiday greetings program is one of the best well-kept secrets,” he said. “I’ve been able to do this for 20 years, and we always get many positive responses from families. It brings those who are so far away close to their family.”

Tony Benable, of a news station in Bristol, Va., said he also gets many calls from people requesting copies of the video.

“We love it,” he said. “The program gives us a holiday greeting the public cares about.”

Mr. Benable said his station always provides a complimentary copy of the greeting to the servicemember’s family.

Although it is not possible to reach everybody stationed overseas, Mr. Taylor said the agency tries to get a good representation from all the services in a variety of locations.

“We give priority to those who are forward deployed or in other remote unaccompanied assignments, but we do record greetings from families serving in accompanied assignments in Europe and the Pacific,” Mr. Taylor said.

Servicemembers stationed overseas, including families and Department of Defense civilians who will be stationed outside the U.S. during the December holiday, are all invited to take advantage of the program and send a holiday greeting back home.

People can check with their public affairs office to see when the team will visit their community and where they will set up. The public affairs office will determine how they will schedule people or units.

The following is the schedule for the holiday greetings teams, excluding their stops in Southwest Asia and Africa:

-- Sept. 12: Darmstadt, Germany; Aviano Air Base, Italy; and Fort Greely, Alaska.

-- Sept. 13: Babenhausen, Germany; Aviano AB; and Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

-- Sept. 14: Wiesbaden, Germany; Vicenza, Italy; and Eielsen Air Force Base, Alaska.

-- Sept. 15: Baumholder, Germany; Vicenza, Italy; and Fort Richardson, Alaska.

-- Sept. 16: Hanau, Germany; and Elmendorf AFB, Alaska.

-- Sept. 19: Wuerzburg, Germany; Izmir Air Station, Turkey; and Andersen AFB, Guam.

-- Sept. 20: Schweinfurt, Germany; and Andersen AFB.

-- Sept. 21: Kitzingen, Germany; and Incirlik AB, Turkey.

-- Sept. 22: Mannheim, Germany; Incirlik AB; and Kadena AB, Japan.

-- Sept. 23: Heidelberg, Germany; Incirlik AB; and Kadena AB.

-- Sept. 24: Heidelberg; and Kadena AB.

-- Sept. 26: Stuttgart, Germany; and Royal Air Force Alconbury, England.

-- Sept. 27: Stuttgart, Germany; and RAF Croughton, England.

-- Sept. 28: RAF Lakenheath, England.

-- Sept. 29: Landstuhl, Germany; RAF Lakenheath; and Misawa AB, Japan.

-- Sept. 30: Ramstein AB, Germany; RAF Mildenhall, England; and Misawa AB, Japan.

-- Oct. 1: Ramstein AB.

-- Oct. 3: Kaiserslautern, Germany; Lajes Field, Azores; and Yokota AB, Japan.

-- Oct. 4: Kaiserslautern; and Lajes Field.

-- Oct. 5: Kunsan AB, South Korea.

-- Oct. 6: Spangdahlem AB, Germany; and Gwangju AB, South Korea.

-- Oct. 7: Spangdahlem AB; and Camp Hialeah, South Korea.

-- Oct. 8: Camp Walker, South Korea.

-- Oct. 10: Manas AB, Kyrgyzstan; and Camp Eagle, South Korea.

-- Oct. 11: Camp Casey, South Korea.

-- Oct. 12: Afghanistan; Camp Stanley, South Korea; and Camp Red Cloud, South Korea.

-- Oct. 13: Afghanistan; and Osan AB, South Korea.

-- Oct. 14: Afghanistan; and Camp Humphries, South Korea.

-- Oct. 15: Afghanistan; and Osan AB.

-- Oct. 16: Afghanistan.

-- Oct. 17: Afghanistan; and Seoul, South Korea.

-- Oct. 18: Afghanistan; and Seoul.

-- Oct. 19 to 21: Afghanistan.