Hometown News Release program spreads the word Published Jan. 12, 2011 By 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- The Joint Hometown News Service allows servicemembers to share the news of an accomplishment with friends and family back home. The program enables servicemembers to send stories written by their unit's public affairs personnel or information about milestones, such as retirements to their hometown newspapers for consideration for publication. Topics of the releases include promotions, awards and decorations, re-enlistments, retirements and stories about deployed servicemembers. The program is open to uniformed and civilian personnel in all branches of service. Releases can be created by visiting www.scott.af.mil and clicking on "Hometown News Release" under the "Requests" section on the right side of the page. Releases can also be created by visiting http://jhns.dma.mil. Anyone using the service is also encouraged to attach an official photo and biography to the submission form. Once a release is submitted, the JHNS markets those stories to the publications identified by the submitting individual for potential publication. While the Public Affairs Office stands ready to assist members in the process of sending a release for consideration, the program relies on the individual for submissions and information since the stories often involve a personal achievement that may not already have widespread recognition. The JHNS is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, and is made up of 39 military and civilian personnel. Each year more than 500,000 individual news releases are distributed to the 14,000 newspapers, television and radio stations that subscribe to JHNS' free service. For more information, call the Public Affairs Office at 256-2600.