Army personnel find wealth of
information on new Web portal
By B.R. Sargent, Seoul
bureau
YONGSAN GARRISON — Army personnel can now get an e-mail account and find friends
through a customized homepage on the Army’s new portal, Army Knowledge Online, at www.us.army.mil.
Eventually, users will be able to get personnel and financial records there.
Only soldiers, Army retirees, reservists, National Guard and Army civilians can
establish accounts. The Army has made enrollment mandatory, and plans to issue accounts
with identification cards.
Army officials are "trying to make everything available to soldiers and civilians
through one site," said Eugene Nittinger, 8th Army Information Assurance program
manager. He said the new site givers users "access to a lot of information from the
Internet. They can gather military-related information or they can look up a person."
Users say they are finding their new homepage helpful.
"I found a friend I hadn’t talked to in 14 years," said Staff Sgt. Juana
Mays-Blackshear, 34th Support Group. "It’s great. I put in her name and hit
search."
Since Mays-Blackshear’s friend had enrolled, she found her duty station, e-mail
address and phone number.
Wade said there aren’t security concerns with the information, because "the
information … is no different than what a user could get from an Internet search
engine.
"The information is [also] available to others through Freedom of Information Act
requests, and provided to people and organizations outside the Army, let alone those
inside it."
Sgt. 1st Class Luther Scott, 8th Army, said not having friends enrolled is a minor
portal shortcoming.
"I don’t think a large number of people have set up accounts yet, so
it’s hard to find people," he said.
According to Nittinger, about 85 percent of Army personnel on the peninsula are
registered. He added that because of the high turnover of personnel in South Korea, it may
take a long time for data to reflect 100 percent enrollment.
Russ Lane, 34th SG management analysis officer, signed up with AKO more than 18 months
ago, but didn’t start using it until recently.
"I use it as my homepage," Lane said. "Under the ‘My Channel’
[section], I’ve added sites I go to for my job. I like it. You can tailor it to your
needs. There is just a wealth of information out there. It has something for everybody.
It’s easy to use."
AKO also makes it easy for Department of the Army officials to send information to the
troops. Information can be tailored to select groups within the service, such as
particular grades, battalions or branch employees.
The Army expects to have more than one million users by the end of the year.
Back to October stories
Page Two news roundup
Stories from September, 2001
Stories from August, 2001
Stories from July, 2001
Stories from June, 2001
Stories from May, 2001
Stories from April, 2001
Stories from March, 2001
Stories from February,2001
Stories from January, 2001
Stories from December, 2000
Stories from November, 2000
Stories from October, 2000
Stories from August and September, 2000
Stories from June and July, 2000
Home |
