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Program allows Airmen to communicate with friends, family

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Stephen Fox
  • 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
Deployed Airmen no longer have to wait for weeks for ‘snail mail’ or days for a brief phone call to find out what’s going on back home thanks to a capability developed by the Electronic Systems Center’s Global Combat Support System program last year.

They can now “chat” real time with their loved ones using the Friends and Family feature of the Air Force Instant Messenger available online through the Air Force Portal.

AFIM was designed to boost the morale and enhance the quality of life of Air Force Portal users, especially deployed Airmen and their families, by allowing a rapid communication method for both official and unofficial communication.

Using the messenger, two or more people can exchange instant messages through the Air Force Portal, but unlike email, instant messaging is immediate and enables users to have real-time conversations.

“The Air Force has offered AFIM through the portal for a few years, but until last December when we implemented the Friends and Family Program, the messenger was only available to Airmen and government civilian employees for work-related matters,” said Lt. Col. Joe Besselman, director of GCSS. “With the ‘Friends and Family’ feature added last year, users can chat online with non-Air Force friends and family as well.”

The Friends and Family feature allows Airmen an unlimited amount of communication with up to five friends and family members.

Here’s how it works. The program allows Air Force members with Portal access to “sponsor” friends and family onto the Air Force Portal by entering their e-mail addresses in the system. In turn, the portal generates e-mails inviting them to log onto the portal and set up their own account that will allow them to access the AFIM.

Once a member has access to the portal with simple password and screen name, using the messenger couldn’t be easier. The AFIM icon can be found in the upper right section of the Air Force Portal Home page. When logged in, the system alerts users when their contacts are on line and allows them to communicate through private chat areas.

Since Friends and Family was added in December, feedback about the messenger has been nothing but positive. The mother of one deployed Airman said: “I so appreciate this way of being able to occasionally make contact with him. It means so much to the family members, as well as being a way to keep the deployed person 'grounded' in the knowledge he/she is supported and not forgotten. What a great morale booster.”

The messenger has helped make the difficulty of separation more bearable during deployments, according to the wife of a deployed military member.

“It was extremely hard having him gone, with the only contact being a phone call twice a week for 15 minutes. This was hardly enough time to relay important messages while also giving time for a child to talk to daddy,” she said. “FFIM makes him seem not so far away. It has done wonders to boost our morale, and has improved our relationship with one another.”

For security reasons and the privacy of users, classified and sensitive information cannot be discussed over the portal, and AFIM cannot be linked with other instant messaging services. That hasn’t stopped the more than 30,000 friends and family from using the system, but the Air Force hopes to increase that number.

The GCSS program continues to improve the AFIM and new features are already on the docket for the messenger. A “voice” capability is scheduled to be added to AFIM in the coming months. It will allow members to talk with each other over the internet when microphones are connected on both ends. The program hopes to have the voice feature up and running by the end of the year.

To use the instant messenger, Airmen can sign up at https://www.my.af.mil.