EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska -- The AtHoc and Giant Voice systems here at Eielson Air Force Base will be undergoing tests starting March 26, 2019, as the wing prepares to integrate the two notification platforms.
The purpose of AtHoc, an Emergency Mass Notification System used throughout the Air Force, is to allow senior leaders to notify personnel of urgent issues that may affect the base populace.
“The AtHoc system sends notifications to the users via government email, pop-ups on government computers, personal email addresses, and also to their personal cell phones,” said Capt. Alan Geason, 354th Fighter Wing Command and Control Operations Chief. “But in order for that last piece to work, base personnel must update their contact information on the AtHoc system using a government computer.”
Currently, the Air Force is transitioning to an AtHoc system that is represented by a white globe on the government computer desktop tray, as opposed to the U.S. Pacific Air Forces-managed purple globe, which is being phased out. If users have the new white globe application on their government computer, they can update their information in the AtHoc system by navigating to the system tray on their computer desktop and right-clicking on the white globe. Select “Access Self Service” and input their contact information into the appropriate boxes.
Some Eielson users may still have the purple globe visible their computers, an issue the 354th Communications Squadron is currently working to resolve.
Once updated, the member will begin receiving emergency notifications pushed out by wing leadership via the command post.
For times when a message needs to be sent to the entire base community and not just to government employees, the wing uses the Giant Voice, essentially a base intercom, to get the word out.
“As technicians work to integrate the Giant Voice and AtHoc systems, the base will hear test messages broadcast throughout the installation,” Geason said. “The test messages being broadcast will be introduced as ‘only a test’ so please listen carefully before considering any kind of response actions.”
The decision to integrate the two systems was made by Headquarters Air Force as a way to consolidate into one single alerting system. This will give our Command Post controllers the capability to alert the base faster via multiple means using one system.
The integration is set to be complete by April 1.