Telling the Soldier's and Airman's story to the American public is the primary mission of the Joint Hometown News Service. The service provides Hometown News Program support to the Department of Defense and military services. Currently headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, assigned to Defense Media Activity-San Antonio, the small staff of 39 active duty military and DoD civilian personnel produce a variety of print and electronic news products highlighting the accomplishments and worldwide activities of individual members of the Armed Forces. Each year over 500,000 individual news releases are distributed to the 14,000 newspapers, television and radio stations subscribing to Hometown's free service.
Originally established as the Army Hometown News Center in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1951, the Army center was combined with a similar Air Force function in October, 1980, at what was Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. The consolidated directorate was established to provide the most economical production and distribution of information about Army and Air Force members to their hometown news media. In October, 2008, the organization's name changed from the Army & Air Force Hometown News Service to the Joint Hometown News Service, and it became part of the Defense Media Activity.
The service's print news branch collects, produces and distributes news releases to thousands of newspapers throughout the United States and its territories. Based on information submitted by individual service members and public affairs offices about Soldiers and Airmen from around the world, these stories relay the accomplishments of individual service members and their involvement in newsworthy events to their friends, family members and hometown audiences. Suitable subjects include promotions, awards, training and new assignments.
JHNS print features branch teams travel worldwide, interviewing Soldiers and Airmen on stories as diverse as participation in operations like Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, high visibility events like the Olympics, humanitarian relief efforts in South America or firefighting in the western states. An in-depth, three to four page full length feature story is produced, incorporating each person's quotations, a personal photograph and photographs depicting the various aspects of the story.
Teams from the service's broadcast division log thousands of miles each year traveling to the scene of military operations like OIF and OEF, major exercises, peacekeeping operations, and humanitarian relief efforts. From winter exercises in the snows of Alaska, to the austere mountains of Afghanistan or the sands of the Sinai and Kuwait, JHNS TV crews have recorded the unique and personal stories of military members around the world. Additionally, each year the division collects, produces and distributes to commercial radio and television stations thousands of individual holiday greetings from members of the Armed Forces stationed overseas during the holidays.
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