Posted on May 2, 2014
Enterprise Email? Sorry, I don't have my own personal S-6 at home!
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AKO was hard enough, but now Enterprise Email is getting more and more convoluted. I was never trained to understand SSLs and Certificates and whatever other computer wizardry is required to check my email at home. Increasingly we are expecting SMs of all levels to access their official Army email at home but there is no official apparatus to ensure SMs have the ability to do all this technical mumbo-jumbo. I know I am just a dumb LT, and GOD BLESS Michael J. Danberry at militarycac.com. But is this wrong? Are we expecting too much of people? The military has made it SO difficult to do the simplest but most necessary of tasks in the 21st century - check email!
What can the Army do to actually empower this activity rather than make it more and more difficult?
Was this requirement written entirely by generals who have Gov computers, Outlook and their own personal S-6? Were the creators of this mandate truly so out of touch to realize that there are company-size elements out there with only one computer to their name?
What are the solutions? DO they know how hard it is to be a dumb LT who can't figure out how to configure his (or her) own computer to do this at home?
Can you sense my frustration!?
What are your thoughts, please tell me I am not alone in being so angry at this!
What can the Army do to actually empower this activity rather than make it more and more difficult?
Was this requirement written entirely by generals who have Gov computers, Outlook and their own personal S-6? Were the creators of this mandate truly so out of touch to realize that there are company-size elements out there with only one computer to their name?
What are the solutions? DO they know how hard it is to be a dumb LT who can't figure out how to configure his (or her) own computer to do this at home?
Can you sense my frustration!?
What are your thoughts, please tell me I am not alone in being so angry at this!
Posted 12 y ago
Responses: 18
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To use it from a non-government computer, it sucks. Just like everything else in the military you have to jump through hoops to make things happen.
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There have been increasing problems and complaints with the Army IT infrastructure over the last decade. Current administration is working to minimize the number of systems and increase the reliability and availability of the systems. The biggest problem, aside from creating a functional system that does what it is needed to do and is an actual solution, is the data must go from, in some cases, 5 and 6 systems into one. There are plenty of cases where data overlaps and the information between them is not consistent (3 different addresses or phone numbers). If they could simply take it all offline for 2-6 months, they could possibly transfer all of the data, implement the systems and have things working much better. But, we know that can't happen. I dislike a good many of the policies I see for IT in the Army, but it is what it is. You can gripe about it, or use the proper channels to submit change of policy requests. Things can change if they know there is a need and it doesn't endanger the infrastructure.
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MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca
I know I've heard that same line before...accessing data banks...working...oh yeah back in the early 90's just before they came out with all the new Windows based systems to replace all the old systems DOS based systems. Ah the sweet memories.
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LTC (Join to see)
Personally, I have not had any major problems with accessing OWA, ever. Granted, I have a Masters degree in MIS so I understand the importance of following configuration instructions closely step-by-step, so maybe that is why I have never had a local configuration problem. If some people would spend just half the time they spend complaining about a system which isn't going to go away due to complaints, on researching the answers to their configure problems, then maybe they wouldn't have problems. Just a theory I have.
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LT,
Thank you for pointing this out, I have been in for 7 years and have pretty much had the mentality from the beginning that, I could have found a 13 year-old kid who could create a better website than the Army. I joked around for years with AKO that I should put my username and password out there an offer a reward to the first person who could "hack" my account because I sure as heck could never get in there.... I thought it couldn't get worse and then, out came enterprise. Is it a running joke amongst those responsible to see how f'd up of a system they can force service members to use? I have to have Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox on my laptop, Safari on my Ipad and Iphone and a card reader for all three just to be able to get into Army websites when I need to.
I did however find a 32-page slideshow of how to get all the geek-ware set up correctly to get on and it has lasted a couple months, short of three service calls to access DTS. I am sure it will last until the next update when they "correct that"....
Thank you for pointing this out, I have been in for 7 years and have pretty much had the mentality from the beginning that, I could have found a 13 year-old kid who could create a better website than the Army. I joked around for years with AKO that I should put my username and password out there an offer a reward to the first person who could "hack" my account because I sure as heck could never get in there.... I thought it couldn't get worse and then, out came enterprise. Is it a running joke amongst those responsible to see how f'd up of a system they can force service members to use? I have to have Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox on my laptop, Safari on my Ipad and Iphone and a card reader for all three just to be able to get into Army websites when I need to.
I did however find a 32-page slideshow of how to get all the geek-ware set up correctly to get on and it has lasted a couple months, short of three service calls to access DTS. I am sure it will last until the next update when they "correct that"....
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Very simply put, there are many articles that can be found online that break the process down barney style.
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CH (CPT) (Join to see)
That seems to be missing the point. My gripe is that this process is SO counter intuitive that one must waste that personal time to locate said articles, properly exegete them and adequately apply them. Sending emails to PVT Snuffy should not require the Good Chief Danberry to work as hard as he has to make it easy on those of us to whom this does not come easy
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SGT Jason Weisbrich
Unfortunately they only concern themselves with DOD systems, and not on the impact it has on soldiers when they are off duty.
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I dont know, it seems pretty easy for me. All you have to do is go to that military cac card website and its in Barney style. Most units issue a cac card reader thats "plug and go" so i dont really see the issue. If your new to the military then good leadership will tell you how(especially if you're not active duty). Adapt and overcome. Be smarter than the equipment you work on.
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It is not any better on the Navy side with OWA. Most of the time when you try to log in the page does not come up, or you actually get logged in and can see your inbox but it sits there locked, so you know you have emails you need to deal with but cannot do anything with them.
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Granted, I've been an IT specialist for 15 years, but it's the Army trying to keep up with technology and not get left behind. A lot is expected of people, no doubt, but computers are a part of everything now and it wouldn't hurt for some basic computer use courses to start being part of core training. There's only so much the S6 personnel can handle, and the more tickets we have for the very basic things, the harder it is for us to tackle the bigger issues.
If you've got Windows Vista, 7 or 8 on your home PC (and I hope you have at least that, because Microsoft dropped security updates for XP on April 8th) you really only need the CAC reader in most cases as those operating systems support smart cards out of the box. MAC users will run into a harder time, not because of the Enterprise Email itself, but because Apple's support for CAC readers is spotty, even ones purchased directly from Apple.
As for forwarding, per AR 25-2 you may not auto forward your emails to a commercial account. Yes, its for security and trust me, its a good thing. Having just gotten a computer forensics certification, I've seen case studies of hijacked email accounts. It's not something you want to be able to happen to you.
If you've got Windows Vista, 7 or 8 on your home PC (and I hope you have at least that, because Microsoft dropped security updates for XP on April 8th) you really only need the CAC reader in most cases as those operating systems support smart cards out of the box. MAC users will run into a harder time, not because of the Enterprise Email itself, but because Apple's support for CAC readers is spotty, even ones purchased directly from Apple.
As for forwarding, per AR 25-2 you may not auto forward your emails to a commercial account. Yes, its for security and trust me, its a good thing. Having just gotten a computer forensics certification, I've seen case studies of hijacked email accounts. It's not something you want to be able to happen to you.
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SFC John Brooks
Wholeheartedly agree, sir. We technicians need to be proactive and set up the training until Big Army figures out it's needed.
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COL Vincent Stoneking
SSG Brooks,
Trust me, it is a source a great frustration for home users, especially reservist that are trying to be proactive and engaged during the month.
That said, regarding this post... It is true that most modern OS's don't require ActivClient in order to allow you to use the CAC card. I followed that advice for a long time, since as a civilian IT guy, I prefer minimal system tweaks. Two important caveats:
1. .mil sites will require you to reauthenticate a LOT more frequently if you are not using ActivClient. Annoying, but not a show-stopper.
2. I you need to do digital signing of evals in the new ESS (just for officer evals now, believe it is within a year or two for NCOERs?), then you NEED to have ActivClient installed. Without it, the signing box is just a grey square.
That latter one was learned through about 2 weeks of frustration, finally leading to a 30 round trip mile drive to my unit to click a box on a website... At which point (having ActivClient installed on my .mil computer, obviously) I got a pop-up that said "something, something ActivClient.xhtml." Once I installed ActivClient on my home PC, the ESS site would allow signing.
I guarantee that there is much angst in the force, especially reserve, right now about why doesn't this #$%&@ ESS site let me sign stuff?
Trust me, it is a source a great frustration for home users, especially reservist that are trying to be proactive and engaged during the month.
That said, regarding this post... It is true that most modern OS's don't require ActivClient in order to allow you to use the CAC card. I followed that advice for a long time, since as a civilian IT guy, I prefer minimal system tweaks. Two important caveats:
1. .mil sites will require you to reauthenticate a LOT more frequently if you are not using ActivClient. Annoying, but not a show-stopper.
2. I you need to do digital signing of evals in the new ESS (just for officer evals now, believe it is within a year or two for NCOERs?), then you NEED to have ActivClient installed. Without it, the signing box is just a grey square.
That latter one was learned through about 2 weeks of frustration, finally leading to a 30 round trip mile drive to my unit to click a box on a website... At which point (having ActivClient installed on my .mil computer, obviously) I got a pop-up that said "something, something ActivClient.xhtml." Once I installed ActivClient on my home PC, the ESS site would allow signing.
I guarantee that there is much angst in the force, especially reserve, right now about why doesn't this #$%&@ ESS site let me sign stuff?
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SFC John Brooks
Great information, Sir! I wasn't aware of the ESS requirements as it doesn't cover the NCOER yet, and the training has largely been for the officers and civilians in my agency that will be required to use it. I will definitely look into this and see what we can do to ease the transition. I work with many reserve officers, and I know they have a much harder time due to things like length of time between logins as well as what you mentioned about having to travel to the unit to get things fixed.
I will definitely dig into ESS and see what I can turn up to ease the transition for our Officer and NCO evals.
I will definitely dig into ESS and see what I can turn up to ease the transition for our Officer and NCO evals.
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MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca
You would think COL Vincent Stoneking that by now with all the cloud and portal technology out there, that by now issues as you describe would be in the past. I remember when they converted all our NG system to CAC access - same issues. soldiers had to come into the unit to access AKO and like sites until they unclustered all the initial issues. That's the Army we know and love - forward, ssslllooowwlllyyy forward.
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I've used hotmail for about 20 years with no issues. Why can't the Army manage to implement something that is easy to use and as reliable as good, old fashioned hotmail?
And don't tell me its about security of information---these are unclassified systems, after all (and I fear that the security of information line is a job justification for those selling the Army things like Enterprise Email and CAC-protected webpages for completely non-sensitive things like MILPER messages).
Lots of praise on this thread for militarycac.com, and I'll join in on that. But, about a month ago, my CAC stopped working on my home systems (5 computers, doesn't work on any of them) yet still works at the office. I'm at an Embassy, so no Army or other DoD support for this sort of thing; what resource, if any, exists for those of us who can't find a solution and don't have smart (or even not-so-smart) S-6 types around to help?
And don't tell me its about security of information---these are unclassified systems, after all (and I fear that the security of information line is a job justification for those selling the Army things like Enterprise Email and CAC-protected webpages for completely non-sensitive things like MILPER messages).
Lots of praise on this thread for militarycac.com, and I'll join in on that. But, about a month ago, my CAC stopped working on my home systems (5 computers, doesn't work on any of them) yet still works at the office. I'm at an Embassy, so no Army or other DoD support for this sort of thing; what resource, if any, exists for those of us who can't find a solution and don't have smart (or even not-so-smart) S-6 types around to help?
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MAJ (Join to see)
CW3 Michael Danberry CW4 (Join to see) Gentlemen, thanks for the recommendations. I've tried everything, except the VPN, still no luck. Trying the VPN next; also, HRC actually responded to an email requesting assistance, so I'm going to try to work directly with them. Appreciate the help.
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CW3 Michael Danberry
Please let us know MAJ Jager if HRC is of any assistance. Next is the VPN test. He offers a free trial, so, it wouldn't hurt to try it. http://militarycac.com/vpn.htm
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MAJ (Join to see)
CW3 Michael Danberry CW4 (Join to see) CPT (Join to see) Well, after exchanging a few emails with the HRC IT folks, and suggesting to them (based on a guess from one of you) that maybe they were blocking my IP address, the next day, wouldn't you know, I was able to access all HRC sites. I understand I'm one of about three people using HRC sites from Cyprus, but why they blocked me and not the other two isn't clear. At any rate, thanks for the assistance....
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CPT (Join to see)
Anytime, sir. It sure beats my Cbrn duties. Maybe that's why my bog xo said I should vtip, haha.
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