AtHoc emergency notice system pulls through Published May 2, 2012 By Staff Sgt. Stephenie Wade 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- The voice of public opinion is in and the consensus is that AtHoc was a big hit this weekend after storms producing baseball size hail and tornadoes swept through the Scott Air Force base area. "I was pleased and impressed at the tenacity with which the AtHoc system worked to get messages to me," said Col. Michael Hornitschek, 375th Air Mobility Wing commander. "I think all of our deliberate planning and training really paid off because Saturday we were experiencing Oklahoma-style weather in my opinion." The AtHoc system which generates alerts using the Internet Protocol Addresses as an installation-wide, mass-notification system and represented by a small purple globe icon located in the lower right section of computer user's screen has only been activated for official use on Scott since March 2012. It was put to the test this weekend after the severe storm surge. "AtHoc allows mass life saving messages to be sent rapidly to thousands of employees in geographically dispersed buildings, facilities and areas alerting them of, or during, an emergency," said Maj. Kent Freeman, Chief of the Scott AFB Consolidated Command Post. "The system worked as advertised, as command post controllers were able to relay messages via AtHoc as fast as the 15th Operational Weather Squadron could send them. It was a weekend weather advisory scenario and most people were not at work. The system was important in the sense that those who signed up and included home email and personal cell phones, were able to receive the AtHoc system information and take the appropriate actions; not only safeguarding themselves but their family members as well." According to the Scott Consolidated Command Post, Scott only has 15-20 percent of military members on base left who need to sign up to receive messages through the AtHoc system. With the storm season just beginning and threat of more severe weather coming this week, Team Scott plans on conducting training in the near future to help improve the AtHoc system notification process. But it is also an individual's responsibility to make sure their information is up-to-date first. "We are tailoring messages to not only be sent faster, but also drafting post event actions including specific details on what and where people should go and do in the event a disaster strikes," said Freeman. "AtHoc provides us that capability, but it only works for those who have input data." Ultimately, the primary goal of the Command Post and the AtHoc system is to provide a means of rapidly notifying all Team Scott members during times of emergencies and matters that require urgent attention, using multiple channels, to accelerate our threat response. "It's exciting with this tool and our lessons learned, we can take emergency management notification to a whole new level," said Hornitschek. Command Post personnel request everyone take two minutes out of their day to update their personal information by clicking on the Purple Globe icon, then "Update My Info" and following the screen instructions. Once members are registered they will begin to receive messages or alerts to the fields that were populated. It is highly encouraged when populating the fields to be as detailed as possible, even taking the time to add home contact information can help relay important, time sensitive information to those you care about most. Detailed instructions are available on the 375 Wing Sharepoint site. This system is for official use and will not be used as a sales or marketing tool. For more questions about the AtHoc system contact Maj. William Freeman at 256-2615 or visit www.athoc.com/products/athoc-iwsalerts/overview-a-benefits.html.