AKO/Enterprise Email Address after Retirement

2014-11-25T09:19:17-05:00

Do Retirees keep their email address after retirement? If so, for how long they can access? Are they able to save all their contacts, emails, folders, etc?

Response by SGT Javier Silva made Nov 25 at 2014 11:45 AM

2014-11-25T11:45:42-05:00

SSG Private RallyPoint Member - Secretary McHugh signed the memo that authorized the transition to the Army Enterprise e-mail. What this means for retirees, is that they will not have access to AKO e-mails and must obtain one from a civilian commercial provider. All current AKO users retirees/families will have until 31 DEC 2014 (auto-forwarding final date) and access to account may have already been suspended.

Future AKO retirees will have to have a commercially run email. It is recommended that you start saving and updating your contact lists prior to retirement, along with any messages you may want to keep for future reference.

You can read more about it here: http://www.eis.army.mil/ako

AKO Transition

The AESD Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system has been simplified to better support customer calls with only threeoptions: AKO SIPR, AKO, and All Others. After customers make their first number selection, an AESD Technician will answer the phone. Contact the Army Enterprise Service Desk at 1-866-335-ARMY (2769) or https://esd-crm.csd.disa.mil/.

Response by 1LT William Clardy made Nov 25 at 2014 9:52 PM

2014-11-25T21:52:45-05:00

Apparently not, which will have some interesting ramifications.

For example, there are a lot of vendors who offer discounts to active and retired military who use a .mil email address as a primary means for verifying who's eligible. That will no longer be an option for Army retirees.

I should also admit that I'm a bit pissy about the Army's whole effort to partition retired military from the current service members -- as if we should have to prove that we have some legitimate need to be allowed access to current unclassified information on just about anything.

Response by MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca made Nov 26 at 2014 7:07 AM

2014-11-26T07:07:51-05:00

You have to get a unit to sponsor you're AKO membership in order to keep it when you leave. This site is even better though: http://soldierforlife.army.mil/

Response by SGM Erik Marquez made Dec 26 at 2014 12:29 PM

2014-12-26T12:29:56-05:00

No once again the Army screwed us with a promise not kept.

No AKO for after military life... just another lie

Response by SPC Leisel Luman made Dec 26 at 2014 2:27 PM

2014-12-26T14:27:56-05:00

I'm retired army and kept my Military e-mail as my primary contact. It kept me in touch with my transient AD friends and I felt connected for years after my service. It was a social filter of sorts and if you didn't like the "@us.army.mil" I didn't want to hear fr you any way. On job applications if the didn't choose me for a interview because of my military e-mail then I didn't want to work for you either. I hated that it was taken from retires but hope it was for a good reason.

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 27 at 2014 1:51 PM

2014-12-27T13:51:20-05:00

Others have adequately explained that the Army will no longer honor their promise that we would have AKO for life. I won't rant any further about that.

You will have to save your contact, emails, folders, etc on your own, but it isn't that hard to do.

I recommend Thunderbird. (https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/) It is a mail processor, which can integrate all your email accounts into one program, combine your address books, access your emails from other accounts for cross-forwarding and is a lot quicker than Web-based email.

Assuming you can login to Web AKO, you can remove any forwarding that has been set. I did it to mine. It will eventually be impossible, but for 4 more days, you should be able to do it.

Install Thunderbird. It runs on Windows, Linux, and probably OSX, and works the same way everywhere (one of the reasons I use it.) Configuring each account isn't a snap, but most like Hotmail, Gmail, and Yahoo mail are known to Thunderbird and install automagically.

For AKO, you need the following:

IMAP Mail Server: imap.us.army.mil at port 993.
Connection Security: SSL/TLS
Authentication Method: Normal password
SMTP Server: mailrouter.us.army.mil at port 465

Once you make a connection, click on each of your folders to download whatever you have in them from AKO. At that point, if the Army kicks you off, you'll still have what you downloaded.

I can be contacted if there are questions.

Response by LTC Martin Metz made Dec 28 at 2014 12:23 PM

2014-12-28T12:23:31-05:00

It did seem like the game rules changed on having a dot mil account once I retired. I set up my AKO emails to forward to my designated post-army civilian email account. Make sure you inform folks to stop using the dot mil address. I can still access some portions of AKO after drilling through some questions I had established to vouch for who I am. The AKO email is no longer accessible through AKO, but the White Pages are. Most files and sites are not accessible if they are mil suite since a CAC card is required. You can contact the AKO help folks for some assistance in reactivating portions of AKO. Some official post-retirement functions can be accessed with a DS Log-in, but be patient with setting it up. https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/identitymanagement/authenticate.do?execution=e1s1. They have a call in assistance line also.

Response by LTC Martin Metz made Aug 27 at 2015 10:43 PM

2015-08-27T22:43:18-04:00

The latest Army Echoes (Jun-Sep 2015) showed an article on the new Army White Pages which launched earlier this year. You still have to register for DS Log-on permissions. That's only a minor hoop to jump though for the access to various sites. The White Pages may help a little in staying in touch with folks even in retirement. This feature went into effect after many retirees had already dropped off. Not everyone had much info listed and I noticed quite a few still showing .mil addresses which are no longer viable for retirees. I was pretty aggressive at keeping my info up-to-date and staying current. I was still able to track on some folks, especially those still serving. Here's the blurb: "WASHINGTON – On 18 March, the Army launched its new White Pages which are open to anyone with either a Common Access Card or Department of Defense Self-Service Logon account. Designed by the U.S. Army Human Resources Command, the new white pages are available through a link on the bottom of the Soldier for Life website (http://soldierforlife.army.mil/). First time users will be asked to opt in to provide their contact information to others within the Army community (Active Army, Army Reserve, Army National Guard, retired, veteran, Dept. of the Army civilian). Users may opt in or out and update their contact information at any time. For users who do not opt in, the only information provided to others is their name, rank, status, and .mil email address if known. Users can find other members of the Army community by using the White Pages search feature. Users may also access their official military personnel file through this portal. This is particularly helpful for quickly obtaining a copy of a DD Form 214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty) or awards and evaluations."

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 27 at 2015 10:58 PM

2015-08-27T22:58:43-04:00

I hate Enterprise email! Had bad luck with it since AKO switched it.

Bad juju, bad!

Response by SFC Victor Carreras made Mar 6 at 2018 10:58 PM

2018-03-06T22:58:44-05:00

No ,after you retired from the service they erase your profile from army ako email

Response by CW4 Craig Urban made Apr 9 at 2018 9:09 PM

2018-04-09T21:09:16-04:00

I had a ako account when I retired in 1994. It got suspended. I called ako help desk numerous times after 2011 After I retired as a GS 12 after 18 years in Europe.

Response by PFC Allison Dugas made Apr 17 at 2018 7:56 PM

2018-04-17T19:56:07-04:00

This freaking sucks. I can't access vital information anymore because my us.army.mil address was deleted. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to redirect the emails to my primary?

Response by PVT Private RallyPoint Member made May 11 at 2018 10:27 AM

2018-05-11T10:27:23-04:00

Yes