VA Joe has some great features for getting in contact with other members of the military, both Active Duty and retired. We’ve also come across some useful dating/singles websites that are catered towards the military only, and they may be something our single members find fun and useful. Here’s a short spotlight on Military Dating Online:

Today we see many strides by sites like Match.com, Yahoo! Personals, eHarmony.com and others trying to attract more singles to try online dating. While big sites like the ones mentioned are becoming house-hold names, singles are naturally gravitating more towards focused dating sites that appeal to their interests and needs.

MilitaryDatingOnline.com is a perfect example. As an online personals site focused on helping military singles and civilians interested in dating military men and women, MilitaryDatingOnline.com is steadily growing to become the favorite website for singles to meet and connect with singles all around the world. With features that rival most paid dating services, MilitaryDatingOnline.com offers free membership to anyone, regardless of military status and location.

Being a part of our community gives you instant access to all our member profiles complete with photos, interests, location and much more. In an effort to keep our community active and helping you find a date, love, activity partner or friendships, we have sections of our site like:

• Community forums for you to share and participate
• Online dating blog to keep you updated on our plans for the site
• Free Horoscopes
• And much more.

MilitaryDatingOnline.com provides free online personals and dating services to singles in active duty as well as people who are not in the military but are interested in relationships with service members.

Enjoy member features like:

• Free sign ups and No membership fees – Ever.
• Unlimited messaging
• Free photos and video uploads
• Customizable profiles
• Search members by interest, city and military bases
• Meet singles all around the world
• And much more.

If you are single and want to find your match, then come on over and create your free personals account today at MilitaryDatingOnline.com

About MilitaryDatingOnline.com:
MilitaryDatingOnline.com is run by 2 people, Will and Derek. The site started off as a pet project 3 years ago to see if 2 people, living in totally different states can successfully launch a full-featured community site. After seeing the growth in online dating services for niche audiences, we decided to take it a step further and make major improvements to the site by adding more member features, expanding to more countries and so forth.

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Laura from Maeva Design sent us an email today to let us know about a new program honoring and supporting those who serve. Maeva is taking cloth from military uniforms and fatigues and turning it into handbags for women. 10% of all profits from the sales will be donated to military organizations. We have to admit -they are some cool bags! Check out the different styles offered on their website at Maeva Design.

The idea was inspired by an Army Major named Dan Carroll who originally conceived the idea to create gifts for his mother and sister. If you’re looking for a nice gift for the lady in your life, why not help a good cause?

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We recently interviewed LT Nixon of LT Nixon Rants to find out more about his blog.

What are 3 things your readers probably do not know about you?

1. I have a Type-B personality and I’m more apt to listen than to shoot my mouth off, believe it or not.

2. My real name is not LT Nixon. I chose the name to honor the cynical character from Band of Brothers who had a skeptical view of war and personal problems, but he still was able to do his job and serve his country.

3. My favorite beer is Miller High Life.

How long have you been blogging and why did you get into blogging?

Not too long, only about a month or so. But I’ve been reading blogs and have been a total internet junkie for years and years. I started blogging because I thought that the American public was getting the wrong messages about Iraq from the media. It seemed many people didn’t understand what was going on over here, or just chose not to care. On the right-side you have people talking about Holy War against Islam and on the left you have people talking about bloodthirsty soldiers killing civilians. Both sides, in blogs and the media, have been incredibly inaccurate. I think that has to do with our nation never coming to grips with the aftermath of 9/11 and what needed to be done. We’ve chosen to tune ourselves out and I was growing seriously concerned about the fate of our nation. I’m not naive, I know one blog isn’t going to make a difference, but I can’t sit back and passively watch our country go the way of the Roman empire.

What is your military experience?

I joined the Navy out of college in 2002 and shipped out to OCS. I was on a fast-attack submarine for 3 years from ‘04-’07. One day, my XO asked me if I’d be interested in doing an IA (individual augmentee) assignment in Iraq, I said sure, why the hell not. I’ve been working a staff job for over 6 months with the Army in Baghdad’s notorious International zone (aka The Green Zone). It’s interesting since I get to work with all the branches and see all the different cultures in our military. I’m definitely no soldier, they only gave me a 9mm, and I never leave the wire. I have it pretty good compared to most in Iraq (hot food, wet trailer, etc.) and I’m in total admiration of all the brave guys and gals in harm’s way out in the field putting in the hard time. You have my utmost respect and gratitude. I’m lucky because I get to see policies and strategy in a top-down manner. I also get to see how those policies affect politics back stateside. That’s when I realized that I humbly needed to try and provide that bridge from Iraq to the American public, since it was so misunderstood.

What are some of your other favorite Milblogs?

I’m a total blog junkie I have so many on my Google reader. Let’s see, for open-source policy analysis I’m a huge fan of Long War Journal and the Captain’s Journal. For veterans issues I’m a big fan of Irritated Vet and Vox Veterana. For a good dash of satire I always swing by War is Boring. For truly professional military journalism I’ve always liked Michael Yon and Michael Totten. But my favorite is reading the blogs of soldiers just writing their personal diaries. No politics and no BS. Bill N’ Bob’s Afghan Adventure, Iraq the Purgatorium, and Army of Dude, and many others. I also read the Iraqi blogs to cross the cultural divide, Iraq Pundit, Iraqimojo, and IraqiBloggersCentral to name a few.

What has been the biggest factor in helping you create and publish a successful blog?

haha, I would hardly call my blog successful (I’m still in single digit Technorati-authority territory), but thanks. I think it’s important for veterans to speak their mind. The people involved with the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and all the other people deployed around the world on ships and planes, are, sadly, a very small minority of the American population. I think America has become a place where people don’t understand its military and have chosen to ignore what veterans are saying with regards to politics. I wanted to do my small part in ensuring that vets get heard by American society, since we all have some very unique insight into how American foreign policy is applied abroad. Keeping an open mind and listening to people’s opinions and concerns from a variety of sources helps me to come up with ideas and things to point out. I also try to have a good sense of humor about everything, and I’ve never taken myself very seriously at any point in my life.

Do you have anything else you would like us to mention about you, your blog, or your readers?

Well, I just hope that veterans get more involved in the political process and speak their mind. I’m terribly concerned about where our country is headed as our military gets more and more stretched thin and outsourced. I always welcome everyone’s comments and criticisms, since political discourse is the only way to find solutions that solve problems in an increasingly complex world. There’s an election in 2008, and I have no political allegiance to any party per se, but we need to make sure that the right people get elected. I know that sounds cheesy and I don’t want to be an alarmist, but I think we have some serious trouble ahead.

Also, I’m one of the lucky bastards who gets to go on R&R during the holidays, so I wish everyone in foreign lands and out at sea a merry Christmas and a happy New Year’s, I’ll be drinking a beer in your honor.

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Overseas Vote Foundation (OVF) provides a central, nonpartisan resource to register to vote and request an absentee ballot from overseas. With the generous financial support from The Pew Charitable Trusts, OVF has developed user-friendly, online voter tools applicable to voters from every state – www.overseasvotefoundation.org:

• An online overseas voter registration tool that prompts the voter for information necessary to register to vote in accordance with each state’s unique regulations.  Error-checks occur during the process to ensure that the voter does not forget any required information. The program then generates an official form in PDF format and provides the voter with the correct county election office address for mailing.

• A Voter Help Desk where voter questions are answered via email within 24 hours

• An Election Official Directory with contact information for the 7000+ election offices in the United States and its territories. 

• A hot topics list of relevant overseas voter news
• Links to nonpartisan organizations that offer candidate information for all states

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Honor Your Heroes by Submitting Their Stories: American Hero Award

VA Mortgage Center.com has launched a contest for honoring veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The American Hero Award, which comes with a prize of $5,000, will be awarded to the veteran who receives the most votes on the company’s website.

This year’s theme calls on citizens to “Honor Your Hero” by nominating friends and family members they think deserve to be recognized. Nominations will be accepted on the website until December 14, 2007. All nominations should explain why the nominee deserves to be recognized in 300 words or less.

Ten finalists will be selected and an open online vote will be used to determine the winner. Finalists will have their photograph and bios featured on the VA Mortgage Center.com voting page. Along with the $5,000 donation to the winning Veteran, VA Mortgage Center.com will be awarding $500 to each of the ten finalists.

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VAJoe Members: You Could Blog for VAJoe

VAJoe is looking for guest bloggers to share their expertise and opinions with VAJoe members and with the entire blogsphere.

If you have an area of military expertise, or knowledge of any subject that you think readers would be interested in, email lane@vajoe.com and find out about being Joe’s expert blogger for that topic.

We’d like blogsperts for the topics below, but the possibilities for other topics are endless. Contact lane@vajoe.com with your ideas and interests:

• Army News
• Navy News
• Air Force News
• Marine Corps News
• Coast Guard News
• Spouse & Family
• Veteran Issues
• Benefits
• World Events
• Conservative Politics
• Liberal Politics
• Military Charities
• Military History
• Anything else you’d like to blog on, from sports to humor, to movies to video games.  Email lane@vajoe.com and briefly state why you are qualified to be a VAJoe blogspert in your field!

As a thanks, guest bloggers receive a VAJoe J-shirt and J-cap.

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We recently interviewed Frontline Fobbit of This War and Me to find out more about his blog.

How long have you been blogging and why did you get into blogging?

I have only been blogging for about a year. I started on Jan. 1st, 2007 as I was heading to Iraq. It was mainly an occassional MySpace post that began gaining viewers beyond my family and friends almost immediately. I really didn’t go “mainstream” until I was having some issues and ran across Badger6. He was very supportive and encouraged me to stick with it. I decided to actually start blogging and doubt I will ever stop.

What is your military experience?

I joined the Navy when I graduated high school in 1991 and did ten years of active duty service. I was a Hospital Corpsman for six years, then changed rates and became a Surface Sonar Technician for the last four. I had no interests at all of doing Reserves. Shortly after I got out, September 11th happened and I was eager to do something, but didn’t. A couple of years ago, I got a call from our local recruiter and he went over my options and mentioned the enlistment bonus and I joined the Army National Guard. I have not regreted too much after that. I have been in the Army for 2 1/2 years and have been training for Iraq or in Iraq ever since.

What are some of your other favorite Milblogs?

There really are some great blogs out there and I am still new to them all. A few of my favorite are

Badgers Forward

Milblogging.com

Thunder Run

Jules Crittenden

What has been the biggest factor in helping you create and publish a successful blog?

My biggest factor in creating it has been my family and friends. My children give me a lot of motivation for the days I just don’t want to talk about how messed up the world is. They remind me of what life is like when I am with them and always make me smile. My biggest factoring in continuing my blog is the tremendous amount of support from veteran bloggers who have welcomed me into the mix.

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We recently interviewed Michael Tomberlin of Yellowhammering Afghanistan to find out more about his blog.

What are 3 things your readers probably do not know about you?

1. My nickname is “Chicken” because of an impersonation I do of . . . well . . . a chicken. I’ve been doing it since I was a little boy and to this day when I go to my hometown, folks call me “Chicken.”

2. I’m a pretty good cook. When I’m at home, I spend a lot of time working the grill. I also like to try my hand at gourmet recipes. I learned from some of the best. My internship was at New Orleans Magazine and my job for the summer was to interview 25 New Orleans chefs. I met Emeril Lagasse (who had just opened his first restaurant), Paul Prudhomme, Susan Spicer and all the greats. They each taught me a thing or two about cooking.

3. I met legendary University of Alabama Crimson Tide football Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant when I was a little boy. My uncle, who helped organize the World Championship Domino Tournament, invited him to play in the tournament and he accepted. The invitation included coming to my grandmother’s house for lunch, which he also accepted. I have a picture of me and my sister sitting on the couch with the “Bear” hanging in my room in the barracks.

How long have you been blogging and why did you get into blogging?

I started blogging for this deployment. I was going to chronicle my experiences in a journal, but when I mentioned the prospect of doing it as a blog instead, the folks at al.com couldn’t have been more supportive. They set it up and have made it too easy. My civilian job is a reporter for The Birmingham News, which has its online home at al.com, hence the connection.

What is your military experience?

I have been in the Alabama Army National Guard for 21 years. In fact, prior to this deployment my entire time had been in the same field artillery battalion. I have always been a Redleg artilleryman. My first five years were spent enlisted as a 13F forward observer. I got my commission through ROTC at the University of Alabama. This is my first overseas deployment, though I have been activated for hurricane duty for Hurricane Ivan and Hurricane Katrina.

What are some of your other favorite Milblogs?

You mean other than vajoe.com? I’ve only recently discovered the www.milblogging.com Web site and have started sampling some of the many blogs on there. I can’t say I have any favorites yet, but I lean towards the ones in Afghanistan such as “Bill and Bob’s Excellent Adventure” and “AfghaniDan.”

What has been the biggest factor in helping you create and publish a successful blog?

I’ve had a lot of help. A graphic artist at The Birmingham News created my banner/logo. The technical experts at al.com help me incorporate elements like slideshows and video to give it more life.

I think the key element is telling the story. Don’t try to be too cute about it and don’t think that the mundane can’t be interesting. What I try to do is tell the story of what I experience, but not make it about me. I view myself as a generic soldier experiencing these things for the first time. I look at everything with fresh eyes and then as I think about them in terms of a blog entry, I consider the deeper meaning in what I’ve seen or felt. I’ve been accused of being philosophical, and perhaps I am. But when you are in a situation like many of us find ourselves in trying to make a change during some pretty historic times for an already history-rich country, then I think it helps to pause every once in a while and consider the true meaning of things.

Do you have anything else you would like us to mention about you, your blog, or your readers?

I can’t speak for other blogs, but the readers are not just passive people looking in on my site. The “Yellowhammering Afghanistan” readers are quite active in supporting me and the guys but also in supporting the people of Afghanistan. I get so many great packages of goodie bags, toys, candy, school supplies, clothes, you name it. We have ample opportunity to hand that out when we’re out on missions. As I was saying, the blog isn’t about me — it’s about the great work so many soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are doing here.

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Echo9er talks about his milblog Echo9er.

Question: What are 3 things your readers probably do not know about you?

This is pretty tough to answer. I’ve been fairly open in my About page and my Confessions.

1) I am a Founding Member of the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians. I do not know if this organization is still around, but I had an opportunity to join as a Founding Memer, and did.

2) I have Lived in or Visited 15 countries. I have Lived in or Visited 39 of 50 States in the USA.

3) I read “Playboy” magazine for the “Interviews”

Question: How long have you been blogging and why did you get into blogging?

I actually had the Blogger site Echo9er for 2 years before I started writing. I’m not sure why, but I thought it was something I might enjoy doing. I figured I could write what is on my mind, link to a few other sites, insert a little humor, and just have fun.

I have no visions of a million page views (that would be cool). I have no visions of public notariety. I have no visions of fame. I just want to have fun.

However, once I started posting the DoD Casualty reports, I felt an obligation to keep the blog going. I felt a need to put a name next to that number. I have been a Casualty Notification Officer and Assistance Officer. I know first hand what the families go through when they hear of the death of a loved one, be it a training accident, and auto accident, a skliing accident, or hostile actions. As a Casualty Affairs Officer, I also had that knowledge. I may not get a lot of the “Back Story” on the Cassualty, but I still feel an obligation to post it. That is really what keeps the Blog going.

As for the fun, you’ll see some of those posts every once in a while.

Question: What is your military experience?

US Army, 28 1/2 years, Retired Sergeant Major (Hence the Blog Title “Echo9er”).
I was a medic my entire Military Career, from Basic Combat Medic (PFC,
E-3) to Senior Medical NCO (SGM, E-9).

Question: What are some of your other favorite Milblogs?

Jack Army, Blackfive, SGT Hook

Question: What has been the biggest factor in helping you create and publish a successful blog?

Successful is a relative term. I think consistancy is a big factor. I asked for advice from a couple of Bloggers when I first started. They said the most imprtant thing to do is to “Post something EVERY DAY.”

I’ve tried a number of different things, but at a minimum, there will be no less than one entry each day, unless I post a vacation message.

Question: Do you have anything else you would like us to mention about you, your blog, or your readers?

First of all, Thank you Lane, for this opportunity.

To my readers, all I can say is “Thank you” for reading Echo9er. There are a few loyal readers. I read every blog on my Blogroll, if not daily, at least weekly. Due to other commitments, I may not have time to link or comment on Echo9er, but I am greatful to all of my readers.

Thank you again, and please keep reading.

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TheUsualSuspect talks about his milblog The Unlikely Soldier.

Question: What are 3 things your readers probably do not know about you?

I’m not sure. I try to emphasize the fact that I’m comically out of place here, and also to bring the true picture, not something doctored up. So I’ll have to be abstract and say: Tim Burton is probably largely responsible for who I am as a person. I get a strange kick out of strip clubs, not for the obvious reasons, but because of the odd feeling of being submersed in depravity, and then the Catcher In The Rye type thinking takes hold and I realize that I’m watching a young lady who was once someone’s little girl.

And finally, I will gladly scoop Jennifer Aniston up on the rebound, and we can just enjoy ourselves without the pressures of adopting strange children, and it will all be completely ok. She seems sweet.

Question: How long have you been blogging and why did you get into blogging?

Its been two years and seven months now. I started my blog the day I finally decided for sure that I was going to enlist. I used to write bizarre rants on the unofficial Tool (the band) forum at toolshed.down.net, partially inspired by Maddox (The Best Page In The Universe) along with praise from friends of mine when I’d go on endless verbal rants. I found a milblog one day when I was at work, and I thought, “Pff, this is dull as hell. ANYONE can do this.” I’ve been wasting minutes of your lives with reckless keystrokes ever since.

Question: What is your military experience?

I’m an active duty infantryman in the Army, currently deployed to Iraq. I’m a round peg in a square hole and I’m laughing about it. Overall I guess its pretty positive. And I’d be lost without negative things to write about. Especially the opportunity to laugh at my own expense and let everyone else do it too.

Question: What are some of your other favorite Milblogs?

“My War” by CBFTW back when it was still up. Colby Buzzell “just did it” and it worked, and it wasn’t littered with propaganda or bullshit, it was just the truth, just his experience, and it gave you a real look at what things were like for him. We exchanged a couple emails and he was always really cool. In fact, at one point he encouraged me to keep writing no matter what, when I was seriously about to pull the plug. “I dunno man, fuck it. Just DO it, you know? And who cares what they say.”

Julie Anna Infantry Wife. As a single soldier in the Infantry, I was living in the barracks, and had virtually NO female contact (much like now). I’d always had the impression that army wives were gold-digging cheating conniving vindictive she-monsters who caused violent fights between their freshly-returned-from-deployment husbands and whatever poor sucker they were fooling around with. Julie is an honest and good person who not only defies that stereotype, but also has an understanding that we “Joes” are essentially good people, forgiving the excessive drinking and insatiable thirst for women. She presents her side of the spectrum and for those few minutes that you’re reading her writing, you find yourself going, “Damn!

THIS is what America needs to be, THIS is what wives should be like.” She hates The System at times, but forgives it for the sake of her husband, and she has that Suck It Up and Drive On mentality that can see anyone through tough times. As far as I’m concerned, she IS America.

American Short-Timer. Even though his blog is also more or less over and done with, and most of the posts are now gone, he is the quintessential anti-hero. In the army, the person who really doesn’t give a shit is commonly referred to as a Shit-Bag, and he not only embraced it, but he upped the ante. He fucked with the proverbial system while laughing about it. Completely free from the burden of fear of punishment, because screw it, he’s “short”, remember? There is liberation in rebellion, and who wouldn’t like to give the Man the Finger? He murders the bullshit facade the army puts on, the English language, and anything else he sees even remotely unfit, and he’s ruthless. His keystrokes are like bunker-busters.

Question: What has been the biggest factor in helping you create and publish a successful blog?

I never really considered it “successful”, but just something that just exists as it is. Blogger made it free and I went for it. It started off with just the couple friends that I had told about the blog, and slowly it started accumulating readers, some of them EXTREMELY dedicated, and that’s inspiring. One day my sister told me that I should start a milblog, and I grudgingly gave her the link and told her to keep quiet about it. Next thing I know, my entire extended family is reading about me firing off knuckle children during a firefight in Baghdad. I signed up for the MilBlog webring and now I’m getting even more hits and more supporters, more care packages, and all things considered, it’s really cool. I only wonder how long it will be until my unit knows I’m writing. People like what I write apparently, so I just keep doing it.

Question: Do you have anything else you would like us to mention about you, your blog, or your readers?

My readers are awesome, and I appreciate them the way one would appreciate not being a leper. That’s quite a bit of appreciation: when you acknowledge it, it makes you stop and go, “Whoa…I’m pretty damn lucky. ….Groovy.”

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