cap.af.mil it exists, we can build it, but into what?

[Tim Medeiros]

if you had control and free reign of http://www.cap.af.mil what would you do with it?  Would you transfer our current page at cap.gov there?  Would you just trash it, or keep it like it is?  curious to see the responses

[Eclipse]

I would just forward the DNS to .gov.

[DC]

I would transfer the current Members area of cap.gov and www.capnhq.gov to it, and leave cap.gov as a recruiting site; similar to Airforce.com and Air Force Link.

[SDF_Specialist]

I say just trash it. I've never seen anything on that page other than what's on there now.

[JohnKachenmeister]

s.That's our OLD website.  We went to cap.gov in the 90's.  I don't know why.

[mikeylikey]

I remember hearing the AF said we had to move off of it.  Just a rumor from like 10 years ago though.

[IceNine]

Make it a re-direct to one of the many available layers of cap.gov

I am sure there is even more restrictions with a .mil than with a .gov

[NIN]

s.That's our OLD website.  We went to cap.gov in the 90's.  I don't know why.

With the corporatization of the Civil Air Patrol (starting with the great "civilian invasion" in 1994) it was deemed inappropriate for CAP to have an af.mil address schema.  Not much was done about it though until there became a gigantic requirement from the AF to separate the CAP and CAP-USAF networks at HQ and to NOT host this grossly insecure website on the Maxwell AFB network.

I don't recall if CAP maintains a commercial internet connection into HQ independent of the Maxwell AFB connections, but I seem to recall them having to run T-1s or something years ago.

And then, of course, CAP hijacked the CAP.gov domain from the guys in CA Wing who were doing a fine job of running it.

[RiverAux]

From a standpoint of promoting CAP "legitimacy", I think either domain works well. 

[mikeylikey]

Could a www.MY.cap.af.mil   be done?

Make it like the AF Portal.  Restrict it to members only.  Each wing and region could then make sub-communities inside.  Working groups could get together on the site, and huge piles of information can be available there.

I am not net-educated, can a "my" be placed in the address, or is something that can't be done?

Heck forget about the "my" and just turn it into a secure, member only gathering place.

[SarDragon]

if you had control and free reign of http://www.cap.af.mil what would you do with it?  Would you transfer our current page at cap.gov there?  Would you just trash it, or keep it like it is?  curious to see the responses

Nothing. It's the AF server, and the stuff that's there is partly under their cognizance in the grand scheme of things. That's why we got the .GOV site, for the separation. I understand there were security issues, too.

s.That's our OLD website.  We went to cap.gov in the 90's.  I don't know why.

See above.

I remember hearing the AF said we had to move off of it.  Just a rumor from like 10 years ago though.

Actually about 5 years ago. It was long after I got back involved in CAP after my break.

[Tim Medeiros]

if you had control and free reign of http://www.cap.af.mil what would you do with it?  Would you transfer our current page at cap.gov there?  Would you just trash it, or keep it like it is?  curious to see the responses

Nothing. It's the AF server, and the stuff that's there is partly under their cognizance in the grand scheme of things. That's why we got the .GOV site, for the separation. I understand there were security issues, too.

s.That's our OLD website.  We went to cap.gov in the 90's.  I don't know why.

See above.

I remember hearing the AF said we had to move off of it.  Just a rumor from like 10 years ago though.

Actually about 5 years ago. It was long after I got back involved in CAP after my break.

I was mainly posting this as a "what would you do if we had total control of it" type of thing.

[SarDragon]

OK, why do we need control? We have a perfectly good .GOV domain. The .MIL domain serves its purpose, and the .GOV serves its.

[Tim Medeiros]

OK, why do we need control? We have a perfectly good .GOV domain. The .MIL domain serves its purpose, and the .GOV serves its.

Its just a hypothetical situation, theres no need to analyze everything.  Simply, if you were handed the controls, what would you do?  I can assume from your post that you'd say shut it down and forget about it.

[SarDragon]

OK, why do we need control? We have a perfectly good .GOV domain. The .MIL domain serves its purpose, and the .GOV serves its.

Its just a hypothetical situation, theres no need to analyze everything.  Simply, if you were handed the controls, what would you do?  I can assume from your post that you'd say shut it down and forget about it.

No, like i said above, just leave it alone. It is an entryway into the NTC stuff, and has links out to CAP and AF sites for those who are lost on the 'Net.

YMMV. Notary Sojac. *Batteries not included.

[mikeylikey]

You can do more with a .mil than you can with a .gov  (at least in the DOD)

[DNall]

That was the CAP website for years. IIRC, AF had us change over for a couple reasons. Part was our unsecure network. Part was more difficult for our IT folks to access/update/etc. It may well have been the mentioned civilian invasion that proceeded that justification though. I wasn't in a position to know at the time, but I was a little disappointed.

Initially it did redirect to CAP.gov. Then I think it was the CAP-USAF website for a while. I hadn't been over there in years upon years.

What I think would work best is a frontpage that looks almost identical to CAP.gov, but gives the option to branch off to CAP (cap.gov) or CAP-USAF (stay under the .mil domain). Not that it matters.

[DNall]

You can do more with a .mil than you can with a .gov  (at least in the DOD)

Isn't that just emails though? Army allows sponsor .mil emails to "Army Volunteers." I don't know what the deal is w/ AF on that, but it seems like a highly appropriate way to deal w/ CAP.

I'm not that familiar with AFPortal, I think it's quite a bit less involved than AKO, but I understand we're going to a DKO based system patterned on AKO. At that point, I'd very much want CAP to step up with organizaitonal pages/knowledge centers/etc the way it's done on AKO. I believe, and this is far outside my expertise, that a .mil website allows you to do some of that sync'd up so both sides stay updated & cross linked. I don't know, you need someone smarter than me for this one.

[Nick]

You can do more with a .mil than you can with a .gov  (at least in the DOD)

I'm not so sure ... the AFEN proxies are pretty much opened for *.mil and *.gov.

Since the NTC guys work out of the DSC-Richmond site, the entire place is on .mil -- their emails, their web apps, even the DSN and STU-III lines, etc.  So, they are the keepers of cap.af.mil.  But, the Air Force doesn't permit non-Government business to be conducted on the AFEN (hence the need for some assorted .com websites for NAFs and other activities)... and therefore cap.gov.

So, to answer the question as to what can cap.af.mil be built into ... anything that supports the AF mission of CAP, and only that.  Unfortunately, they've already done that -- I give you WMIRS and the secured Comm pages (which contain NTIA (government) information).  Anything else falls under the corporate entity of CAP.

[ddelaney103]

I'd like to see a "one stop shopping" site for CAP-USAF and CAPRAP.

[pelican]

Make it like the AF Portal.  Restrict it to members only.  Each wing and region could then make sub-communities inside.  Working groups could get together on the site, and huge piles of information can be available there.

I am not net-educated, can a "my" be placed in the address, or is something that can't be done?

Heck forget about the "my" and just turn it into a secure, member only gathering place.

ok, question. i am a graphic designer that also does some web development. it's kinda funny that this came up. i am in the process of designing a website (www.caplopedia.com) that i am going to try to turn into what mikeylikey was talking about. a huge pile of information. the web concept is that it will be user driven, meaning instead of relying on specified people to contribute information, registered members could author, edit, and/or publish said articles to the site. it also has the potential to be divided up by wing and possibly further. also, it can be expanded to be a networking site with forums, an auction for buying/selling CAP gear....the list kinda goes on and on. it's built off the CMS system Joomla so there's a huge amount of support out there. again, it's kinda funny that this was mentioned cause i just got the idea a couple of weeks ago. our wing (florida wing) is having its annual conference this friday, saturday, sunday so i am desperately trying to get content up in time so i can start getting the word out. let me know what you guys think of it as far as good/bad idea. btw, not trying to knock cadetstuff but it's sadly in need of upgrading.

[BuckeyeDEJ]

I would consider designing the www.cap.af.mil homepage to Air Force standards (notice that all the AF's major Web sites look like, down to the banner across the top and the type used for each unit?). Make THAT the public portal, and link off it when necessary to things that the .mil domain won't let CAP do (cap.gov or capnhq.gov).

[Nick]

I would consider designing the www.cap.af.mil homepage to Air Force standards (notice that all the AF's major Web sites look like, down to the banner across the top and the type used for each unit?). Make THAT the public portal, and link off it when necessary to things that the .mil domain won't let CAP do (cap.gov or capnhq.gov).

While I would definitely be a supporter of that ... to do so would take away the "Civil Air Patrol corporate branding" and further advertise it as a subsidiary of the Air Force instead of its own corporate entity, which isn't the main party-line this decade.

[BuckeyeDEJ]

Sgt. McLarty, the CAP corporate branding probably would still work within that framework.

The CAP party line this past decade has probably done as much to drive a wedge with the Air Force as anything has, but I'm sure that with the major driving force gone, we'll see a better relationship. (Wouldn't it be great if we could go back to being the full-time auxiliary again?)

It could work -- and work well for us. And then cap.gov could maybe become a recruiting portal, not unlike airforce.com.

Just a thought....

[Tubacap]

^That setup would be outstanding.  I don't like sending people to cap.gov now that are new.  It takes awhile to get used to.  Once you are familiar with where you need to go to get stuff, it isn't bad, but as a recruiting site, it leaves a lot to be desired.

[SAR-EMT1]

Question:
Someone once told me that there were some CAP.mil ( or was it .GOV?)email addresses still availible. Is  this true?

If so what it the procedure to getting one set up?

[PhoenixRisen]

CAP.gov e-mail address exist.  From what I've seen, they're not for the "average joe in CAP", but just for those assigned to NHQ.  (Again, that's just what I've seen, I could be wrong.)