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AETC installs new emergency phone app for JBSA members

  • Published
  • By David DeKunder
  • Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph Public Affairs
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas --  Air Education and Training Command has installed a new mobile phone app that will allow Joint Base San Antonio active-duty members and Department of Defense cardholders to receive emergency notifications at their fingertips.

The AtHoc Notifier app enables the JBSA Command Post to send emergency alerts to JBSA members through desktop popups, email, text messages and phone calls to multiple devices with a single click of a button, said Senior Master Sgt. Torrie Perry, 502nd Air Base Wing and JBSA command post superintendent.

AtHoc is an installation notification warning system that is part of the AETC Emergency Mass Notification System. The app notifies users of any warnings or emergency situations issued by the JBSA Command Post, including force protection conditions, security incidents, anti-terror warnings, weather notifications, natural disaster warnings, recalls or localized responses for a bomb threat or explosion.

Perry said the development of the AtHoc app is in response to a directive from the Office of the Secretary of Defense requiring all DOD installations to have rapid and effective notification capabilities to help facilitate information in the event of a natural disaster, major accident or man-made threats.

“The mobile app simply adds another avenue of alerting registered users via their smartphone,” Perry said. “AtHoc is just one of the INWS tools that assist the installation commander to meet the Department of Defense Issuance 6055.17, Installation Emergency Management Program, requirements to warn/notify assigned personnel on and off duty. The goal is to notify the base populace within 10 minutes of a hazardous incident.

The AtHoc app is available free to active-duty members and DOD cardholders via the App Store for iOS phones and Google Play for Android phones. To register for the app, an email that is attached to an account in the Installation Warning System, or IWS, Alerts desktop software, which operates on the standard desktop configuration, must be used. The IWS Alerts software is identified as a small purple globe in the system tray.

Any active-duty member or DOD cardholder who does not have the purple globe in the task bar on their work station desktop needs to contact the 502nd Communications Squadron at JBSA-Randolph, 652-2015; JBSA-Lackland, 925-0576; and JBSA-Fort Sam Houston Army Enterprise Desk, 866-335-2769.

An AtHoc account is automatically created during a user’s initial Common Access Card login to any computer or JBSA network. The purple globe is the primary way for an active-duty member or DOD cardholder to update their contact information in AtHoc, by right-clicking and going to the “Update My Profile” tab. Under the contact information, a user can add up to three email addresses to receive alerts.

In addition, the AtHoc app allows a user to include three mobile devices to receive notifications. Once the app is loaded on these devices through the purple globe, a user can put in an organization code for each JBSA location: HKHN, JBSA-Fort Sam Houston; MPLS, JBSA-Lackland; and TYMX, JBSA-Randolph. By doing this, an AtHoc user can enable JBSA members not on the JBSA network, such as dependents, contractors and retirees, to receive emergency notifications and alerts for these locations.