E-Mail for Life is here! Published July 5, 2007 By Master Sgt. Byron Lee 61st Communications Squadron Los Angeles Air Force Base -- The E-Mail for Life (E4L) program assigns an e-mail address to each person affiliated with the Air Force. It applies to all military members, government civilians and contractors with af.mil addresses. This new address stays with the person regardless of where they may be assigned. The first step in this multiple-phase consolidation effort is to give everyone an e-mail address with a universal format. The new E4L addresses will not be base-specific, such as @losangeles.af.mil, but will have the extension of @us.af.mil. The change will be transparent to people who use the Global Address List (GAL) since their name, rank and unit designations will still show. With a large directory such as the GAL, there will be many duplicate first and last name combinations. When that occurs, a number will be added after the last name to make each address unique. If two people have the name John Smith, then the most senior person as of January 2007 will be assigned the address john.smith@us.af.mil, and the lower ranking individuals named John Smith will be assigned a numerical identifier such as john.smith.2@us.af.mil, and so on. Another address identifier will be given for contractors who will have a .ctr after their names such as john.smith.3.ctr@us.af.mil. This does not create a second or new mailbox. While this new address will be active when they receive the notification e-mail, it will not affect their current e-mail address, and in fact, any items sent to the E4L address will automatically be forwarded to the current address. The E4L address will not show up on the GAL until mid-summer when the initiative reaches full operating capability. E4L notifications will be distributed across base during the month of July. The notice will tell users exactly what their E4L address is so they should keep the notice. For more information on E4L, please visit https://imp.afds.af.mil/e4ls/index.jsp.