Who runs the IT department at the DoD/Army anyhow?

CW2 Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 23:43:24 -0400

Seriously, I don't rant on RP often, but here is one. I am inprocessing my unit and I'm required to do the entire fiscal year of mandatory training (AT LVL1, POSH, Ethics, etc). Which is fine.<div><br></div><div>But 50% of the time the websites don't work, or they have some weird quirk, or the training half loads and you can't complete, or worst of all, that CRAP system known as ALMS where I can't even print my certificate on A FREAKING GOVERNMENT COMPUTER and I have to go HOME and use my PERSONAL system to print a GOVERNMENT certificate.</div><div><br></div><div>The government could run any successful business into the ground. </div><div><br></div><div>If the government took over RallyPoint you'd get a 404 error every time you tried to do something.</div><div><br></div><div>EDIT: Ok, the certificate doesn't even show up on ALMS at home, either. Ugh, what a waste of money the government has on IT systems.</div><div><br></div><div>EDIT 2: Web mail seems to be down too</div>

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 20 at 2014 11:59 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 23:59:25 -0400

small staff due to reduced budgets turning into skeleton crews in off hours?

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 21 at 2014 12:05 AM

SPC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 00:05:02 -0400

SFC Jones when it comes to anything Government related and how crappy it is whether it's the internet, computers, and printers this is the only thing I can think off.

Response by SFC Aaron Calmes made Mar 21 at 2014 12:06 AM

SFC Aaron Calmes — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 00:06:36 -0400

Just remember, our systems are so secure, we can't even get into them.

Seriously though, I feel you pain with ALMS. The average soldier can't figure out how to print a certificate from ALMS on the rare occasion it is working. I mean really, why so many certificates for SSD. How many soldiers need a certificate just to show they finished module 1? And another for the exam, and another for all the other module portions and another for the end of course survey? Even if they did, why not just default to one certificate when the whole course is done?

Response by SSG Oliver Mathews made Mar 21 at 2014 6:01 AM

SSG Oliver Mathews — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 06:01:54 -0400

SFC Jones,
I work in one of the higher echelons for the CONUS landwarnet. And i would like to express my deepest regrets to inform you that Even i don't know who manages those services.

The primary problem is that the military is often working with outdated servers loading almost current software. When accessing from home you have to enter through specific gateways to enter the landwarnet. and while being within the landwarnet you have to traverse through multiple poxie servers routers switches firewalls... media converters... the list is long...

Add to the fact that these servers are all based in CONUS and you are located in HI, it adds an even larger amount of stress delays and timing issues.

As for webmail, That is DISA and is highly dependent on where your previous duty station was. You could be on some strange POD (long story) and requests are timing out while trying to retrieve your information. You will need to go to https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/milconnect to change your settings and get your mailbox moved to the right location.

And Ladies and Gentlemen you cant spell Disaster, Disappointment without DISA... in fact any word that starts with DISA is generally bad.

BUT i can give you a number to people that run it so you can tell them how bad it is?

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 21 at 2014 1:42 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 13:42:02 -0400

<P>I experienced the same certificate issue on ALMS this week. I contacted the help desk and they really got back to me quickly and were very nice. Go to this site and submit a ticket: <A href="https://web-mont03.mail.mil/owa/redir.aspx?C=HoUbRbNVckq4X6mGcjSrWiJ3n3e-GNEIqDrLgxpR4LGNCrZorbcBBHJo-FK5LWjcpsaVK6_Ktf4.&URL=https%3a%2f%2fathd-crm.csd.disa.mil%2fapp%2faccount%2fquestions%2fdetail%2fi_id%2f1019678" target=_blank><U><FONT color=#0066cc>https://athd-crm.csd.disa.mil/</FONT></U></A></P>
<P> </P>
<P>As for your Army computer systems being crappy, you should try working on an Air Force base! We have to wait years for browser, java or adobe updates and you can only visit about 1% of the interwebs. All because "we don't know how secure it is yet".</P>

Response by SFC Stephen P. made Mar 25 at 2014 2:04 AM

SFC Stephen P. — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 02:04:19 -0400

When i started this career counselor gig, we prepared contracts by pulling 2-1s, 2As, and filling fields in FormFlow. Around 2005 we created a system that interfaced with TAPDB-R and automatically filled our forms for us. It was buggy, but it worked.

Last year we rolled out a new version which is even buggier, and makes the process 10 times more difficult. It's actually easier now for me to manually create contracts than to use the automated system.

Response by GySgt Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 25 at 2014 4:31 PM

GySgt Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 16:31:22 -0400

COMM'S DOWN!!!

Being a communicator in the DoD can suck a lot. Everybody needs you but hates you because half the time it's down. Why is comm always down? Not enough bodies, not enough training, not enough money, and with each branch of service running their communications differently the integration of our systems is a nightmare.

With annual user training for information systems, it's a requirement for so many important reasons. There is so much access to information and equipment that the individual user can accidentaly spill information or connect devices that pose risk or destroys the integrity of the network. The annual training is a check in the box to ensure the user was instructed on proper use and procedures of communication equipment.

As General Mattis' communicator at USCENTCOM before he retired, he considered a mishap of communications equivalent to a negligent discharge of a weapon because of the severity these mistakes have to the defense of our networks and information.

When comm is down, General Mattis would say "I guess we're hanging another communicator."