Army AKO Webmail

AKO Login Portal Information

Online education has become very common among students. Online courses provided through internet are same as those taught in a classroom. Online education is provided in many ways, for example, satellite feeds through internet, online reading lessons or through correspondence. This enables the students to acquire a degree without attending lessons in a classroom. Today, online education has become a part of every accredited college or university. It is also widely accepted as a suitable training method for any job in the related field of study.

In this context, the soldiers of the United States Army have received and still receive their training through correspondence courses. These courses are available through mails. The soldiers are given all the study material through web portal. Today, they are available through a soldier’s AKO login account.

AKO

AKO is a single enterprise web portal. It provides single sign on capability for us.army.mil email, blogs, instant messenger, chat, file storage and directory services. It also provides links to other army websites such as I PERMS, ATTRS, MEDPROS, etc. AKO is available to all the wings of the army – Reserve, National Guard and Active. AKO login is also available for the supporters of the Army who support to include family dependents, contractors and army retirees. AKO gives its users the opportunity to build file storage folders and pages in order to facilitate sharing of information within the Army.

AKO Login Portal

To access AKO Login Portal, you require an AKO Account. You can open your AKO account only if you are an authorized user and this authorization is provided by theUSAmilitary. Some areas of the AKO Website demand that you should have a CAC (common Access Card). It is believed that AKO Webmail will be 100 per cent CAC which means that you would not be able to access AKO Login Portal without your Common Access Card.

Common AKO Login issues

While accessing your AKO Webmail, you might face some issues:

• If you are trying to access AKO Login portal, you might receive a message saying that AKO is not trusted. In this case, you are required to update your DoD certificates.
• If you have a new CAC and you have not set up, you might face problems while accessing your AKO Webmail. In this case, you are required to update your ActivClient.
• While accessing your AKO Webmail through your AKO Login, the browser might close itself or you might be directed to your home page. To solve this issue, you have to make sure that AKO is not added to your trusted websites. But this is required unless you are using IE7 or earlier. For this, you have to go to the ‘tools’ option and from there to the ‘internet options’ and then to ‘security’. \now you will have to click on the trusted sites that are marked with green color. Next, you have to click sites button and then on the link mentioned in the white box. After this, you have to click on ‘remove’ before closing the window. After closing this window, finally, you will have to click on ‘OK’. Follow these simple steps to solve this problem.

AKO Login provides a much secured way of transferring sensitive information. AKO serves more than 2 million registered users. In fact, AKO aims at transforming the army into an information-age.

AKO connects DA civilians and soldiers through AKO Webmail. AKO is the official military worldwide intranet website. In fact, it is the largest company intranet of the world. It was developed in 2004 when troopers supporting the Operation – Iraqi freedom, raised the issue of communication problem with one another. Today, military users can have access to commonplace webmail options via AKO. They can also send and receive messages, thus, facilitating information-sharing.

AKO Army Webmail is a technology that offers a tight security system to transfer sensitive and confidential information through the web system. The users are able to use high level of encryption in order to protect the information that is travelling via AKO email system. You can access this email by visiting the AKO Army site.

An AKO Army Site includes three integrated components. However, these components are non-interchangeable and do not include a separate site. These components are:

• Group: A Group can be an access control list, a working group or a contact list.
• Files Community: It stores and shares images and documents.
• Page: It displays links and information. It also organizes documents.

For AKO Army purposes, all official organizational groups are listed in the Site Map in a hierarchical format.  If you are an administrator of an organizational group, you should look at the Site Map to find out where your unit should be placed in the command structure. If you do not see your group on the Site Map, you should immediately move your group from its current location.

Organizational Group

Organizational groups are those groups which have parent organization that is an official AKO Army organization. If your group is not assigned a parent that is visible on the Site Map, then your group will not be considered as an organizational group. Hence, your group will not appear in the Site Map.

You can visit the group properties page and check the parent box in order to view the listed parent organizations. If a parent is listed there and is still not available on the AKO Army Site Map, you will have to get the parent moved under its higher organizational group. For this, you will be required to contact the administrator of your parent organization.

In case, your group does not have a parent organization you need to place your group under your higher level organizational group. For this, you will be required to contact the administrator of your next higher level group. The higher level administrator should be an administrator of the child group as well as parent group. Only then, the organizational groups will be moved to their respective new locations.

It is believed that AKO Army Website is considered to be very complicated. But, if you understand all its features and properties, you will realize that it is a hub of many things. You will be surprised to know that how easily you can share information via AKO webmail system.

Assistance Provided By AKO Help Desk

AKO is the largest company intranet in the world. It offers a two way communication platform for soldiers, their family dependents and civilians. The AKO website gives all the necessary and important information about the US Army. It gives an opportunity to the civilians to be a part of the discussions about the current Army system and the models of the Department of Army.  Not only this, it also allows its users to create their own hub for the purpose of communication with their relatives and friends.

AKO has been of great help for the army. However, AKO webmail and the entire system can be very confusing. This is why the AKO help desk is available. So, if you are facing any problems regarding logging in or any other problem, you can email your query to AKO help desk at their email address – help@us.army.mil.

In case, you want a quick response to your problem, you can speak to the concerned people by contacting them at their AKO help desk number. For all commercial queries, you can contact them at 1-703-704-4357 and for all DND purposes; contact them at 312-654-4357.

You can contact AKO help desk for any query regarding registration, renewal of accounts, definitions of terms that are unfamiliar with civilians, resetting of passwords and availing of any feature.

It has been observed and noted that most of the calls received by AKO help desk are that of the wives of deceased soldiers. They call for sponsorship to have a permanent account. They seek to be a part of the virtual community so that they can receive updates on the families of soldiers in their husband’s units.

AKO help desk provides step by step assistance to the family dependents for updating their accounts and for having full access to memorial pages, unit information, benefit updates, army news links, casualty/survivor information, white pages and benefit updates.  With the help of AKO help desk, they get direct access to MyPay. It also enables them to send and receive emails, participate in the forums of AKO and create sites.

Apart from the family dependents of the deceased army members, there are users calling the AKO help desk who have problems with their registrations. Most of these users are the civilians and family members of soldiers who are not linked to DEERS system.  The help desk provides them assistance in contacting Casualty Assistance Officers.

The help desk also gives latest updates to the families of the army members on the status of their units. It is also useful in locating the infantry division.

AKO help desk is treated as a bridge of access to both soldiers and civilians.

How to Go For AKO Account Registration?

AKO, Army Knowledge Online, is a single enterprise web portal providing single sign on capability for us.army.mil email, blogs, instant messenger, , directory services, chats, links and access to other army websites such as I PERMS, ATTRS, MEDPROS, etc. AKO Webmail is accessible to all the Army components – Active, National Guard and Reserve. It is also available to those supporting the Army, for example, contractors and family dependents of the army members. It also includes Army Retirees. AKO facilitates information sharing by enabling the users to build pages and file storage folders. These pages and folders are created with access control capabilities for the purpose of dissemination of information.

For accessing AKO Webmail system, you are required to visit the official AKO webmail login portal. To login, you require a username and password. To get an AKO Webmail account, you need to understand the process of AKO Account Registration. With the help of instructions given on the page of AKO Account Registration, you will be able to set-up your account in the AKO Webmail system. In order to access all the features of AKO system, you also require a CAC card and a smart card reader. Without CAC card, you might not be able to login.

AKO Account Registration is accessible to those who are a part of the Army Personnel System. It is available to the users having current entry in the above system. The categories of Army Personnel system includes:

• Army Reserve
• Active Army
• Army retired
• National guard
• Individual Ready reserve
• DA Civilian
• DA Civilian Retired
• NAF Civilian
• USMilitaryAcademyCadets
• ROTC Cadets (MS III and IV)
• Future Soldier

If a user comes under two categories, for example, if his records appear in Army Reserve as well as in Army retired, then the user will have to apply for dual-account and this account would exist as long as his records appear in both the categories.

For AKO Account Registration, following steps are to be completed by the user:

• Go to the official website of US Army
• Accept the agreement
• If you have a CAC card, you will have to register with CAC and if not, you will have to opt for “Register without CAC”
• If you possess a CAC card, you will have to enter your PIN or have to select your certificate.
• Enter all the details like Social Security Number, Foreign Identification Number, Date of Birth, PEBD and contact details.
• After filling all the details, enter your external email address and go to the next step.
• Then you need to enter your contact details for the organization you are working
• Next, you have to choose your password. Make sure that your password is strong.
• Choose three security questions and answer them. Make sure that you do not forget your answers. This helps in situations when you forget your password.
•  After completing all these steps, you will be directed to a confirmation screen. This will confirm that your AKO Account Registration is complete. In case, you are unable to login to your account after thirty minutes of receiving the confirmation, do contact the AKO helpdesk.

AKO Webmail System is very useful as it allows users to exchange information with one another via email.

AKO, is the official worldwide intranet website of US military. It is used by troopers and DA civilians for the purpose of transferring information through AKO email. AKO, the world’s largest company intranet, was developed in 2004. It was the result of the issues raised by the troopers supporting the Iraqi Freedom Operation. The issues were the problems that they faced while communicating with each other. With AKO, military users can send and receive messages. They can have access to all commonplace webmail options.

The AKO email has more than 2 million users that are authorized by theUSmilitary. The registered and authorized users are the active army members, their family members and retired army members. As per the website of AKO, it aims at transforming the army to a knowledge and information based organized.

To have an access to your AKO email service, you require a username and password which is common to most on-line webmail platforms. In order to understand the process, you will find a tutorial which is recorded both in text and audio format.

The maximum AKO email size is 5MB. A file is 8 bit data but when it is sent in an email it is base 64 encoded so that it can be printed. Base 64 encoding is able to convert 3 decoded bytes into 4 encoded ASCII characters which makes it printable. In other words, a file having a size of 3.7MB becomes 5MB encoded. If the AKO email includes signature or is encrypted, it takes additional space and the attachment size becomes smaller. To make an AKO email of 5MB encoded with signature and encryption, the attachment should be of 2.6MB with no message text in order to make it through the AKO webmail. In short, an AKO email without any signature or encryption can have an attachment of 3.7MB and with signature and encryption; it can be of 2.6MB. In order to send a message of 20MB via your AKO email, you will be required to set up your AKO webmail to an external email client such as Thunderbird or Outlook.

There are certain attachment types that are not allowed through the AKO mail system. This is done to comply with the NETCOM guidance 2004-11A. These attachments include: .ace, .ad, .bat, .bhx, .shs, .txt.scr, .upx, .url, .uue, .vbs, .com, .crt, .nch, .mim, .wsf, .wsc, .ws, .vsw, .vss, .dll, .doc.bat, .doc.com, .doc.pif, .exe, .dot, .exe, .exe., .ceo, .chm, etc.

These attachments are blocked in order to protect email from viruses. Even if you want to send an AKO email with one of the above attachments, then you have to upload the file to an AKO folder and give the user the access to the file. You can send a link to the file.

AKO is a very helpful website. It is true that AKO email and other AKO options are difficult to learn and understand but once you understand them, you will come to know that it is a hub for several things.

Army AKO Webmail is a web-based collaboration and communication client that allows its users to manage and compose email messages. It also helps its users to manage and share calendars and personal addresses including public address books. The users of Army AKO Webmail have the benefit of accessing their webmail from any location provided they have an internet connection. Every Army AKO Webmail portal user is given access to their own personal AKO Webmail account.

Army AKO Webmail is the most secured method of transferring any sensitive information. It uses a very high level of encryption. AKO helps its users to exchange emails and store files for the purpose of sharing information. These users are authorized users having the approval of theUSmilitary. It also enables its users to chat and access blogs and various location services. It provides links to other related army websites. Army AKO webmail provides an opportunity to the army at war to communicate with their loved ones and each other. Family dependents and army retires are also authorized users of this Army AKO webmail portal.

Features of Army AKO Webmail

The main features of Army AKO Webmail include:

• Instant Messenger
• Spell Check Availability
• Ability to send larger attachments
• Webmail Lite
• Quicker launch times
• For slow internet connections, low-bandwidth option is available
• Calendar is not available

You can access your Army AKO webmail without being prompted to answer your KBA questions. And if you are being asked to do so, it is because trusted sites are not configured on your internet browser. In order to solve this issue, you need to follow these simple steps:

• First, you will have to open Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8
• Second, click on tools and then on Internet Options
• Third, you will have to click on the green checkmark which is for trusted sites
• Click on Sites
• Uncheck the box mentioning ‘require server verification’
• Remove all sites that end with “us.army.mil”
• Now, you will have to type army.mil in the box mentioning ‘Add this website to the zone’
• Click on the Add button
• Last, click on the close button

People who are a part of the military can access Army AKO Webmail. These people include active army members, their family dependents, army reserves, national guards and retired army members. Any information that is required to set up Army AKO Webmail is available on the military’s official website.

In order to access your Army AKO Webmail, you require a username and password. For this, there is a text tutorial as well as an audio tutorial that will guide you if you face any problems while logging in.