Thursday, June 21, 2007

TOP STORY >>E-mail-for-Life now available at Little Rock

By Master Sgt. Mitch Gettle
Air Force Print News

The Air Force began the first phase of a new e-mail system recently to enhance communication of Airmen worldwide.
AF eMail, known as eMail-for-Life or E4L, is a single, static e-mail address that will not change during the career of an Airman or Air Force civilian employee and is available to all Little Rock Air Force Base personnel.

The current e-mail system, rapid mobility of the force and frequent assignments and career development opportunities outside the Air Force can make it difficult for Airmen to communicate.

“At any given time, we can only reliably connect and communicate with 79 percent of our force through e-mail,” said Capt. Kirk Phillips, information technology division chief at the Air Force Senior Leader Management Office.

“eMail-for-Life” can be obtained at https://imp.afds.af.mil/e4ls/e4laddress.jsp. Once a user is assigned an e-mail address with the @us.af.mil ending, the user will have this address for the duration of their career.

Address formats will not differ much from already established e-mails. For example, 1st Lt. Cory Garcia, stationed at Little Rock AFB, currently has the e-mail address of cory.garcia@littlerock.af.mil. Under E4L, that address will most likely be cory.garcia@us.af.mil. Because many people in the Air Force have the same name, numbers may be added in the order e-mails were obtain.

So, if Lt. Garcia were the third person with that name in the Air Force to reserve his account, his address would then be cory.garcia.3@us.af.mil.

“E-mail is the most critical communication tool that we’re using to implement force development and transform our personnel process. Industry-standard e-business solutions require static e-mail addresses, and that is the direction the Air Force is headed,” Captain Phillips said.

Airmen will be able to complete personnel actions in minutes through e-mail and the Internet, along with other benefits, he said.

“Not only is there a huge potential for Air Force cost avoidance, but mission support will be greatly enhanced by empowering every member to reliably connect and communicate with each other without worry about changing e-mail addresses every couple of years,” Captain Phillips said. “We’ll be able to transform personnel processes under the Air Force directorate of personnel’s personnel service delivery model and empower members and databases to connect and communicate through e-business applications instead of local personnel flights.”

Those personnel processes include: official personnel notifications and announcements; command, promotion and professional military education candidacy and selection; and retirement, assignment, evaluation, feedback and decoration processing.

Frequently asked questions regarding E4L are available at https://imp.afds.af.mil/e4ls/faqs.jsp.

No comments: