AtHoc and You

Published May 13, 2019
By Senior Master Sgt. Lenora Gallegos, 302nd AW/CSRCP

PETERSON AIRFORCE BASE, Colo. -- As the first Regionalized Command Post, the Colorado Springs Regional Command Post is a very robust and busy operations center. We support activities across four installations covering five wings and roughly 23,000 local members.

As the focal point for information flow from first responders to commanders and the community, we constantly aim to excel at our four core competencies of emergency management, flight following, reports, and emergency action messages. Although all are equally vital tasks, the mass notification process within emergency management is probably the most noticeable to everyone on base.

I’m sure everyone is aware of the giant voice, but this also refers to everyone’s favorite system: AtHoc. While most of the time these alerts tend to be weather warnings and gate closures, you never know when you may receive a critical alert requiring you to lockdown or shelter-in-place.

That’s why it’s important for military and civilian personnel to take the time to update their contact information within the system. Plus, it helps us support our wing commander in meeting the AFMAN 10-206, Chapter 8, requirements “to have the capability to warn 100% of his/her forces quickly given an emergent event.”

In order to ensure it can reach the base populous, AtHoc automatically sends weekly desktop pop up notifications to those with missing contact information. To verify your information is correct, members should access the AtHoc self-service option by right clicking on the “white globe” in their desktop’s system tray, and choose the ‘Access Self-Service’ option. Once the required information is provided in the self-service window (i.e. unit, telephone number, etc.), the user will no longer receive the reoccurring pop-up notifying them of a discrepancy. Most units have an AtHoc point of contact who can help with any issues and contact the CSRCP systems team if needed.

Do you really need to check your information if you already did it last year? Absolutely! The CSRCP recently migrated to a new version of AtHoc as part of an Air Force-wide directed Emergency Mass Notification System upgrade and not all contact information successfully made the transition.

Overall, mass communication is vital within the command and control chain and for all members of each installation. Additional examples of mass notifications broadcasted by CSRCP include weather watch/warnings, changes in force protection conditions, road conditions, gate closures, delayed reporting and wing recalls.

While technology sometimes gets in our way, we work hard to ensure everyone is aware of and safe during any emergency management incidents which may occur in our region. Please stay safe and be informed. Command Post out!