eMarine hits milestone, boasts interactive features

22 Jun 2012 | Cpl. Tyler L. Main U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific

Roughly 67,000 U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific Marines have registered with eMarine since March of 2011, surpassing 90 percent personnel registration for the site as of this month.

MarForPac currently leads the Marine Corps in personnel registered with eMarine.

Col. Brent S. Willson, Headquarters and Service Battalion commanding officer, MarForPac, said making the site a more diversely-used resource for Marines in the command will be the next step.

“We just want to see eMarine become a platform for Marines with good ideas to share them,” he said. “The Marine Corps started it, but it can be whatever the individual Marine wants it to be.”

He explained that he wants Marines to see eMarine as a tool that can be used however the Marines and family members see fit.

“When we get into the military, it becomes about rank and chain of command, which is necessary, but sometimes we need to cut across that and just get things done,” Willson said. “eMarine can be a tool to help with this positive communication between all ranks.”

According to Ken Lum, Family Readiness and Quality of Life director, MarForPac, eMarine is more secure than many other social media sites. He said the site’s password protection, administration and exclusiveness to military family members leads to better operational security and protection of Marines’ personal information.

Casey Fleischmann, MarForPac Family Readiness officer, said the site’s security gives family readiness officers a protected forum to pass information to families.

She said people use discussion boards on eMarine to find babysitters, play groups for military children, and discuss upcoming unit information that couldn’t otherwise be shared on a public site like Facebook.

Fleischmann recently surveyed families as to what dish they preferred for a battalion family event. She gave the families a variety of choices and picked the meals with the most votes for the event. She said this is one of many interactive tools she uses to communicate with families.

The end result is for Marines and sailors to use eMarine to serve as a one-stop venue for special interest groups, clubs, recreational planning, personal photos, restaurant and activities reviews as well as provide pertinent information to Marines and their families.

“eMarine is so much more alive than an email blast,” she said. “The beauty of eMarine is that it provides a more secure, interactive space for family readiness officers to share information with their unit’s family members and Marines.”

Fleischmann encourages Marines to work with their family readiness officers to put relevant content on the site. She said Marines can even send pictures and reviews from recent local experiences to their unit family readiness officer to be posted.