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Story and photo by Christine June
U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern
***image2***His wife was a veteran at this – having done it twice before. But, this was the first time that Spc. Gary Albaugh even wanted to participate in the Hometown News Holiday Greeting program.
“It’s for the baby and the wife – keep the family happy,” said Specialist Albaugh, who was with the 226th Medical Logistics Battalion when he and his family did holiday greetings here last year for family members in Washington and New York. He explained that his family had not yet seen the baby, Jacob, who was three months old at the time.
The Army and Air Force Hometown News Service from San Antonio will again have a camera team in the KMC starting Sept. 15 recording holiday greetings for broadcast on local stateside television and radio stations.
The camera team will be here for five days at four different locations taping Hometown News Holiday Greetings to send to relatives in all 50 states and U.S. territories.
Those eligible are active duty, government civilians, retirees, Department of Defense Dependent School teachers and family members stationed in the KMC and surrounding areas, who will be in Germany during the holidays.
Army Staff Sgt. Scott Malone, the hometown news European team chief who produced more than 400 holiday greetings here last year, said the No. 1 thing to remember while taping holiday messages is to relax.
“Try to smile and have fun with it, and don’t worry if you make a mistake because we will shoot it until you get it right,” he said. “So, please don’t be nervous.”
Sergeant Malone gave the following tips on how to make the most of the holiday greetings taping:
What to wear? Active-duty members must be in uniform. Civilians should be in appropriate attire. “They can wear something festive that makes you think of Christmas,” said Sergeant Malone.
However, he recommends for families not to wear white, pink or striped-colored shirts to the holiday tapings. “This really causes issues with our cameras and can produce a kind of flicker effect,” he said.
What to bring? Participants should bring address books along, because the more information people can provide to the hometown news crew, the greater the chance of the greeting airing.
What to say?
Participants need to say four things within the greeting: Who they are, where they are, who the greeting is going to and some sort of holiday message. There is not a maximum or minimum time length on greetings. However, the best greetings are about 15 seconds long, said Sergeant Malone.
Family members must be accompanied by their sponsor, unless the sponsor is deployed. A civilian family member, a husband or wife, can make a greeting if the military family member is deployed, TDY or in the hospital, but they have to mention the deployment of the active-duty member. Family members can also make a greeting to their military relative while on deployment, provided they are going to be there during the holidays.
How many? There is not a limit on how many greetings one family can send to the states as long as they live in different zip codes. However, the greetings must be sent to relatives. By the hometown news definition, a relative is by law and by blood. Fiancés are not relatives.
The process. When customers come to do the holiday greeting tapings, they will fill out a form for every greeting they plan to do. A member of the hometown news crew verifies the information on the forms and gives them a small briefing.
“It was really easy. Just fill out the form and talk,” said Capt. Steven Shea, 86th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron flight nurse who did a greeting last year at the Vogelweh Base Exchange.
When the customers’ turn comes up, one of the crewmembers will escort them to the camera, give them another brief and place microphones on them. The camera operator lines them up and records the greeting in “5, 4, 3, 2….”
Greetings will be taped beginning at 8 a.m. Sept. 15 at the Ramstein Welfare Bazaar (Hangar 1 and 2) and 8 a.m. Sept. 21 at the Ramstein Base Exchange outdoor concession area. The program also visits Vogelweh 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 19 and 20 at the Vogelweh Commissary; and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center’s Four Corners in LRMC 1 to 5 p.m. Sept. 18. To make an appointment, call 480-2458 for Ramsten, 489-7144 for Vogelweh and 486-8144 for Landstuhl.
