Spouse forums, GI Mail alternatives still available online

  • Published
  • By Maj. Beth Kelley Horine
  • Air Force Personnel Center Public Affairs
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  With the transition to the new Air Force Community Web site, www.afcommunity.af.mil, on Oct. 1, alternatives to the GI Mail service and Air Force Spouse forums and discussion boards previously available on the former "Air Force Crossroads" Web site are available on the Air Force Portal and Department of Defense family support resource sites www.militaryHOMEFRONT.dod.mil and www.militaryonesource.com.

The AF Community site phases out the Air Force Crossroads .com-hosted site.

"New Web security requirements, reduced funding, and the push to eliminate redundancy on military Web sites drove the move to the .mil-hosted Air Force Community site," said Eliza Nesmith, chief of Airman and Family Services at the Pentagon.

"We understand the change to a new site can take some getting used to--the Crossroads site took many years to build up its user base--but I hope our spouses and Airmen who used Crossroads test drive the Air Force Community site to see how it meets their needs," said Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Rodney J. McKinley.

The new site offers similar services and information as on Air Force Crossroads, except for hosting GI Mail email accounts. However, comparable services exist and are available to all interested users.

For GI Mail users who do not have access to non-.mil computers to create a separate, personal email account through a commercial host, two communication options are available:

The first option, through the Air Force Portal, allows Airmen to communicate with friends and family through the Instant Messenger tool. All Airmen can sponsor friends and family member accounts on the portal. Simply have the sponsor click on the "Sponsor friends and family" link on the front page of the portal, www.my.af.mil, to request an account. The Air Force Portal is accessible from any computer anywhere in the world once an account is established.

The second option for GI Mail users is through the DoD's Military Homefront site's "Homefront Connections" link. Similar to popular social networking sites, anyone registered on the site can send private messages to other registered site members. To register, simply go to https://homefrontconnections.mhf.dod.mil and create an account. Once the account is established, select "Private messages" under the "Your Stuff" heading. Anyone can create an account, and the site is accessible from any computer, world-wide.

For spouses who regularly used the AF Crossroads spouse discussion boards, the new location for the discussion boards is on the Military Homefront site as well. Go to https://homefrontconnections.mhf.dod.mil and click on "Air Force Spouse Network" on left-hand side under the "Communities" tab. You must have registered for an account to view.

Also, the Military One source site offers over twenty different discussion boards for Total Force Airmen and families. Topics include everything from deployments, moving and education, to new military spouses, spouse employment and military shopping tips. Simply go to www.militaryonesource.com and under the "News and Community" tab on the left-hand side, click the Discussion Board link.

Some newly-registered users on the Military Homefront site may receive what looks like an error message when linking to the Homefront Connections log-in page. Simply click on the middle option "Continue to this site," and the Homefront Connections home page will appear. Maintainers for the Military Homefront site are currently working to resolve this issue.

"For those who regularly used the AF Crossroads site, we understand that this change is difficult. And for the spouses who regularly used the AF Crossroads spouse discussion boards, we realize that sense of community you've had will have to be rebuilt," said Ms. Nesmith. "We're open to your feedback and look forward to hearing your constructive ideas and suggestions."

To provide suggestions and ideas about the new AF Community site, www.afcommunity.af.mil, click "Contact Us" at the bottom of the home page to send feedback.